J862.] A Memoir on the living Asiatic Species of Rhinoceros. 1G7 
are not four-limbed). Among the Quadrumana, the grandest of all— 
the huge Gorilla—has been fe-discovered; for its reputed existence 
was regarded as fabulous by Baron Cuvier. Lastly, in the bird 
class, it is most remarkable that the number of hrevipennate species 
has quite recently been more than quadrupled*:—still, however, no 
remarkable new genus, excepting the New Zealand Moa ; and of this 
at least two species have just been discovered to maintain a lingering 
existence, as I have learned from a letter recently received from Mr. 
E. L. Layard, who is at present in New Zealand as Private Secretary 
to Governor Sir G. Grey. One of these, of comparatively small size 
(about 3| ft. high), has actually been killed and eaten by a famish¬ 
ing party of explorers and fifteen others seen. Of the other, one of 
the large Moas, only the fresh foot-steps (15 in. long) have been 
traced, as Mr. Layard states by a party who had lost themselves; 
and therefore the instance does not appear to be the same as that lately 
recorded in the Zoologist (p. 7847). Both of these living species 
inhabit the little explored Middle Island.f 
March 1 st } J862. 
* Vide J. A. S. XXX, note to p. 92. Even a sixth Cassowary lias since been 
added by the Baron von Rosenberg of Amboyna. It is from the island of Sala- 
watti'; and has no tcattles, as in all the others. Be terms it Casuarius Kaupi. 
Vide Ibis, July, 1861, p. 312. The Bal^niceps rex must be considered as a 
remarkable discovery among large birds ; and this is quite a new genus. 
t The notice in the Zoologist is copied from the Nelson Examiner of July 
12tb, 1861. It is as follows :—“ About three weeks ago, while Mr. Brunner, 
Chief Surveyor of the province, and Mr. Maling, of the Survey Department^ 
accompanied by a native, were engaged in surveying on the ranges between the 
Rewaki and Takara rivers, they observed one morning, on going to their work, 
the foot-prints of a large bird, whose tracks they followed for a short distance, 
but lost them at length among rocks and shrub. The size of the foot-prints, 
which were well defined wherever the ground was soft, was fourteen inches in 
length, with a spread of eleven inches at the points of the three toes. The foot- 
pri tits were about thirty inches apart. On examining the bones, of a foot of a 
Moa in the museum, we find the toe to measure, without integuments, 
eight inches and a half, and those evidently form part of a skeleton of a 
very large bird : the length of the impression of the toe of the bird in ques¬ 
tion was ten inches. The native who was in company with Messrs. Brunner 
and Maling was utterly at a loss to conjecture what bird could have made 
such a foot-print, as he had never seen anything of the kind before. On a 
subsequent morning similar marks were again seen, and, as a proof that they 
had been made during the night, it was observed that some of them covered 
the foot-prints of those which the party made the preceding evening. The size of 
these foot-prints, and the great stride of the supposed bird, has led to a belief 
that a solitary Moa [why one only F] may yet be in existence. The district is 
full of limestone caves of the same character as those in which such a quantity 
of Moa bones were found, about tw r o years ago, in the neighbouring district of 
Asrere. We believe that it is the intention of the Government to take steps to 
ascertain the character of this gigantic bird, whether Moa or not, which keeps 
watch in these solitudes.” 
z 
