105 
marked in the proximal phalanx of both the outer and inner of the three toes as in the 
phalanx of the Dinornis. This phalanx measures one inch ten lines in length, one inch 
two lines across the proximal end, and ten lines across the distal end: the articular 
surface here is impressed by a vertical groove, as in the proximal phalanges of the outer 
and inner toes in the Bustard, and it agrees in its general figure with that of the outer 
toe of the left foot, but is much thicker in proportion to its length. The proximal 
articulation matches in size with, but is not adapted by its configuration to, the outer 
trochlea of the trifid metatarsal of the Dinornis didiformis. The foot-print of this spe- 
cies was probably about the size of the Ornithichnites tuberosus of Prof. Hitchcock. 
From the foregoing comparison of the bones of the feet in the different species of 
Dinornis with the impressions left by the ancient extinct birds of the American conti- 
nent, it must not, however, be concluded that these were species of Dinornis. Agree- 
ment in the size of the foot and number of the toes does not constitute specific or even 
generic identity in Ornithology, as the living Emeu, Rhea and Cassowary testify ; and 
though we may admit that the discovery of tridactyle terrestrial birds of a size more 
gigantic even than that indicated by the Ornithichnites giganteus and Ornithichnites 
ingens tends greatly to remove the scepticism with which such evidences of the extinct 
animals of the Triassic period had been previously received, yet the recognized suc- 
cession of varying vertebrated forms in the interval between that period and the present 
forbids the supposition that the same species or genus of birds could have maintained 
its existence throughout the several great changes which the earth’s surface has under- 
gone during that vast lapse of time. 
We see, in fact, how diversified are the few existing forms of Struthonide: almost 
every species now represents a distinct genus. We know that this order has suffered 
ereater diminution within the time of man than any other in the class of Birds, perhaps 
than any other in the whole animal kingdom. What, then, may not have been the 
extent and variety of the wingless terrestrial birds in times anterior to man’s dominion 
over the earth ! 
Already the heretofore recorded number of the Struthionide is doubled by the six 
species of Dinornis determined or indicated in the foregoing pages ; and both the Maori 
tradition of the destruction of the ‘Moa’! by their ancestors, and the history of the ex- 
tirpation of the Dodo by the Dutch navigators in the Isles of Maurice and Rodriguez, 
teach the inevitable lot of bulky birds unable to fly or swim, when exposed, by the di- 
spersion of the human race, to the attacks of man. We may, therefore, reasonably 
anticipate that other evidences await the researches of the naturalist, which will demon- 
strate a further extent of the Struthious order of Birds anterior to the commencement 
of the present active cause of their extinction. 
And since the texture of the bones of the former gigantic tridactyle Struthionide 
of New Zealand proves that they resembled the Apteryx, in the comparatively low 
! The Maoris or Aborigines of New Zealand call the Dinornis ‘Moa’ or ‘ Movie.’ 
P 
