of Dodos’ Remains in Mauritius. 143 
the work went on, I resolved on sending some men into the 
centre of the marsh, where the water was about three feet deep; 
and there, by feeling in the mud with their naked feet, they 
met with one entire tibia, a portion of another, and a tarso- 
metatarsus. I informed Mr. de Bissy of my success, at which 
he was greatly delighted; and he kindly gave me the exclusive 
right to every bone that might be found there, refusing to some 
applicants permission to search there, saying that, as the disco¬ 
very was entirely mine, he considered that I had a prescriptive 
right to all the bones. 
The Dodo-bones were imbedded only in the mud at the bot¬ 
tom of the water in the deepest parts of the marsh: not one 
was found among the Tortoise-bones on the margin, except 
perhaps the fragment of the tibia just mentioned. Encouraged 
by success, I employed several hands to search in the manner 
described; but I met with but few specimens of Dodo-bones till 
I thought of cutting away a mass of floating herbage nearly two 
feet in thickness, which covered the deepest part of the marsh. 
In the mud under this, I was rewarded by finding the bones of 
many Dodos. There was a much larger proportion of tarso- 
metatarsi than of any other bones; next in quantity were the 
tibiae and the pelves, after which came the femora. Sterna were 
fewer in number, but more numerous than humeri and cora¬ 
coids ; scapulae also were more plentiful than the iatter. Ver¬ 
tebrae were found in considerable abundance; but it was evident 
that many of them belonged to different individuals, rendering 
it difficult to complete a set. Crania were very rare, which I 
attribute to their having been disintegrated by the roots of 
plants which insinuated themselves into the openings of the 
head. Lower mandibles of the beak were found in considerable 
numbers; but most of them had but one ramus, and in none was 
the posterior portion with the condyle found in situ, though I 
met with many of these in a detached state. Upper mandibles 
were extremely rare, having doubtless been destroyed by the 
same agency as the crania. 
I only found one coracoid with the furcula and scapula (which 
three bones in the Dodo were anchylosed together) entire, 
but I met with several to which the latter was attached. Ulnae 
