218 
Dr. J. Haast on the Extinct 
ornis and of the New-Zealand Dinornithidse (using this latter 
term in a general sense) is so enormous that I fail to see how 
they possibly could prove that connexion in any way. 
I cannot agree with Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards, 
that the JEpyornis stands nearer to Dinornis than to the 
Ostriches, Casuaries, and Emus ; except that the fossil bones 
of Madagascar and New Zealand have a more pachydermal 
type than the recent species named. But I may point out 
that the fossil Dromornis australis, of Australia, shows similar 
characteristics; and I am sure, if fossil remains of struthious 
birds in beds of postpliocene age were discovered in Africa, 
America, and Asia, that they would exhibit a similar pachy¬ 
derm al character. 
Judging from Professor Milne-EdwaixTs own excellent 
memoirs on JEpyornis, and the fine casts of the unique fossil 
bones in the Paris Museum he was good enough to send to 
to the Canterbury Museum, I am unable to trace their rela¬ 
tionship with our Dinornithidae. It appears to me that the 
Madagascar species are separated from the former by many 
fundamental differences, such as (to point out only a few) the 
pneumatic foramen in the femur and the straightness of the 
trochleae of the metatarsus. 
And although I am convinced that the struthious character 
of JEpyornis has sufficiently been proved by the eminent Paris 
comparative anatomist, I can easily understand that there 
was at first some show of reason for placing it amongst the 
Sarcorhamphous Vultures, as has been done by Professor 
Bianconi. 
However, speaking of the principle itself, I wish to point 
out that, if we were to decide from a few isolated species in two 
distant countries which show some or even a close resemblance 
to each other that these countries must have once been con¬ 
nected in some way, we should in many instances form erro¬ 
neous conclusions. We might as well say that, because there 
are struthious birds in Australia, the Malay archipelago, 
Africa, America, and Asia, all these countries must have been 
connected with New Zealand—or because marsupial remains 
have been found in Europe, and several species of opossums 
