194 
scratching up the soil is exercised to such a degree that it excayates a burrow for its 
safe habitation: in the larger allied extinct species the rasorial actions would doubtless 
be restricted to the acquisition of food: and the ascertained structure of the foot thus 
accords with and bears out the conclusions deduced from the structure of the bones of 
the neck and head’. 
Bones of the Foot of Palapteryx dromioides. 
Amongst the toe-bones of smaller dimensions, which from time to time were trans- 
mitted to me, I soon found homologous ones presenting different proportions ; and, 
finally, by means of the rich accession of specimens due to the obliging exertions of 
Col. Wakefield, I have been enabled to recompose the entire feet of two species cha- 
racterized by those different proportions of the phalanges. One of these feet is repre- 
sented in Pl, L., the other in Pl. LI. 
As the coalesced metatarsals might be expected to manifest the same general propor- 
tions as the toes they sustained, I have referred the more slender phalanges to the Pal- 
apterya dromioides, and the more robust ones to the Dinornis rheides, the articular 
condyles of the metatarsi of these species bearing the closest correspondence with the 
joints of the proximal phalanges to which they have been respectively adjusted in the 
specimens represented of the natural size in Plates L. & LI. 
The metatarse of the Palapteryx dromioides shows the articular depression for the 
small back-toe : but the bones of this toe have not yet reached me. 
The proximal phalanx of the inner or second toe, Pl. LI. 11. 1, has the contour of the 
proximal articulation cordiform, the apex being superior, the notched base below: it is 
more concave than in the Palapteryw robustus, and the inner and lower angle is as much 
produced as the outer one. A well-marked rough surface extends from each of these 
angles forwards upon the under and outer surfaces of the bone. The vertical channel di- 
viding the distal trochlea is deeper than in the Palapteryw robustus, especially at its upper 
part: the more gradual slope from the upper to the inner side of the bone, as contrasted 
with the more vertical outer side, is better marked than in the Palapteryx robustus, The 
inner depression at the distal end for the lateral ligament is deeper than the outer one. 
The second phalanx is characterized by the deep lateral cavities and the prominent 
median vertical ridge forming the proximal articulation, which is also more nearly sym- 
metrical than in the Palapteryx robustus ; the inner division is, nevertheless, the broadest. 
The distal articular surface extends further back upon both the upper and under sur- 
faces of the bone. The ungual phalanx (a1. 3) shows the same unsymmetrical character, 
produced by the more sloping inner side and the more vertical outer side, as the proximal 
phalanx (11. 1) does: the inner side terminates below in aridge; the outer one is rounded off 
into the under surface: this is protuberant near the lateral vascular grooves, which are well- 
marked. The length and slenderness of the ungual phalanx contrast better with the pro- 
portions of the same bone in Palapteryx robustus, than do those of the preceding phalanges. 
* pp. 107, 180. 


