1343 On Dinernis, pt. i" 
aS Trams. Zool - 
PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE GENUS DINORNIS. 347 
and of Dinornis gigantev’s the right and left fibulz, the proximal end of a left tibia, apd 
both proximal and distal ends of a right tibia of apparently the same bird. In one of 
the specimens, which is nearly full-sized, the distal epiphysis of the tibia is ununited. 
Of the numerous series of vertebrae (250 in number) seven were referable to Dinornis 
giganteus, four to Palapteryx ingens, eighteen to Dinornis casuarinus, together with 
twelve others, forming a continuous series of the neck-bones, corresponding with the 
vertebra referred to Palapterya ingens in my former Memoir’. 
There are still more complete series of cervical and dorsal vertebra referable by their 
size to Dinornis didiformis, Din. curtus, Palapteryx geranoides, and to the species indi- 
cated in the Memoir of 1843 as Dinornis otidiformis. 
There are, also, sixteen more or less perfect pelves, referable to at least five species, 
together with numerous ribs and fragments of ribs. 
Amongst the rarer and more instructive parts of this collection are some portions of 
a sternum of a smull species of Dinornis or Palapteryx, and two nearly entire sternums 
of the new genus Notornis, which belongs.to the same family (Rallide) as the rare 
Brachypteryx or short-winged Rail of New Zealand. 
There are not fewer than 190 phalanges of the toes referable to five or six species of 
Dinornis, Palapteryx and Notornis; and there are eight tarso-metatarsal bones, with 
the articular surface for a very strong hind-toe, and of a conformation more nearly 
resembling those of the Dodo than those of the Dinorns or Palapteryx, but shorter 
and thicker in proportion than in the Dodo, and appertaining to the same bird as the 
tibia and femora described in my Memoir of 1843 under the name of ‘ Dinornis 
otidiformis.” The proximal articulation of this remarkable form of tarso-metatarsal 
exactly fits the distal end of the tibia figured in pl. 26. fig. 5. vol. ili.; and also that of 
a corresponding fractured tibia in Mr. Mantell’s collection, which also contains the 
proximal end of another tibia, a fibula, an entire femur and distal ends of two other 
femora of the same species. 
The large surface for the hind-toe; the strong calcaneal process, perforated by a 
complete bony canal for the tendon at the back part of the proximal end of the tarso- 
metatarsal; the perforation above the interspace between the condyles for the middle 
and outer toes; and the more posterior position of the condyle for the inner toe,— 
all concur to indicate the generic distinction of the bird to which it belonged from 
either Dinornis or Palapteryxz ; and I propose to indicate the new genus by the name of 
Aptornis*®. The present species, Aptornis otidiformis, resembles the Apteryx in the 
‘shortness of the metatarsal as compared with the length of the tibia. Amongst all 
this collection there is but one bone of a wing—a humerus—which bears the same 
proportion to the femur referred to Notornis Mantelli, which the humerus of the little 
existing Brachypteryx does to its femur. 
1 (Part II.) p. 314. pl. 40. figs. 1 & 3, 
® By syncope for * Apterygiornis,’ from a priv., rrépv§ wing, doves bird. 
3 Bu 
Sut Lowa . te 
‘345 — 
Aptevwis n-Yeh. 
