368 A Memoir on the living Asiatic Species of Rhinoceros . [No. 2, 
P. S. No. 1. In a letter dated May 10th, from Bangkok, just re¬ 
ceived from Sir It. II. Sehomhurgk, he writes—“ Will you. believe 
me, I have never met with an example of that formidable animal, the 
lthinoceros ! They are more towards the east, in Cambodia and 
Anam, although they are likewise to be met with in the north; for, 
amongst the remarkable events of I860, Dr. Bradley notes, in his £ Sia¬ 
mese Calendar’ under April 5th, that — 1 A Rhinoceros was brought to 
the city from the north. Though a great curiosity, it was little 
thought after, because of a prevalent notion that his way had been he¬ 
ralded by the cholera, and that the effluvia from his body was almost 
sure to give that disease.’ They are strange people, these Siamese : 
Mr. Bayard further writes, that—“ The fabulous Otter of the natives [qu. a 
species of Obnithohhynchits ?] has also been seen and shot at by Europeans j 
and a new large green Ground Parrot ; also a huge land shell (not Helix Bus- 
Bill), on the tops of fir-trees on the same island.” 
Since transcribing the above, I find that n further notice of the existing great 
Moa appears in the ‘ Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London,’ 
Vol. VI (1862), p. 25. It is a repetition of the account in the ‘Nelson Examin¬ 
er.’ Mr. T. II. Jlood, Member of the Legislative Council of Queensland, writes 
to Lord Ashburton,—“ There is said t o be a possibility that the British 
Museum may still bo adorned by a Dinornis : the footsteps of a gigantic bird, 
it is stated, were seen by a surveyor’s party; they were 14 inches long, and 1L 
in. wide on the spread, and they Bad been impressed during the night over the 
tracks of the men made on the previous clay. All the wingless birds existing in 
Kew Zealand are nocturnal in their habits; and the general impression from 
Maori tradition is, that the Moa was a gigantic Apteryx. The district is 
exceedingly rocky, and full of caves, in some of which it is just possible that a 
surviving individual may find its hiding-place. Exertions are being made (the 
last steamer’s mail brings us intelligence) to ascertain the truth of the report, 
and, if correct, thoroughly to search the wild and unsettled districts where it is 
said to bo. Certainly this would be a most interesting event to naturalists, should 
the search prove successful. I must say that I feel somewhat sanguine on the 
subject; as once, when in that part of the Middle Island, I heard of a very cir¬ 
cumstantial account given by a man, who stated that he had seen a great bird 
go down into a rocky glen one morning at daybreak ; but the story was not cre¬ 
dited. The surveyor who now makes the statement is understood to be a man 
of character.” 
For a Report on the four ascertained living species of Apteryx, by Mr. P. L. 
Sclater and Dr. F. von Hochstetter, vide ‘ .Natural History Review,’ October, 
1861, p. 504. 
e< Let me again refer,” remarks Prof. Owen, “ to the ratio at which the zoolo¬ 
gist’s knowledge of the class [ Mammalia ] lias proceeded of late years ; viz. from, 
say, 1,350 species in 1830, to 2,000 in 1855, and 2,500 iti 18G0. In one order, e. rj. 
Mcirsupialia , the increase has been, from 50 species, recorded in 3830, to 350 
species, in 1860. We should greatly over-estimate our present lcnowledge were 
we to rest upon it a conclusion that there remained but very few more forms of 
mammalia to provide room for in our museums. Look, lor example, at the 
recent unexpected augmentation of the species of the qiiadrumanous order, by 
the researches made by Dr. Savage and M. du Chaillu, in a limited, but previ¬ 
ously unexplored, tract of tropical Africa,—species including the largest as well 
as the most highly-organized forms of the order that comes nearest to Man.” 
{Athenaum i July, 1S61, p. 120.) 
