201 
Remains of the Apteryx. 
In the fluviatile deposits and in the cavern at the base of Tongariro, in the North 
Island of New Zealand, bones of the Apteryx have been discovered so associated with 
those of Dinornis, Palapterya, Aptornis and Notornis, as to lead to the conclusion that 
they had been buried at the same period and were of equal antiquity. Most of these 
remains, of which a femur (fig. 6), and a tarso-metatarse (figs. 7 & 8) are figured in 
Pl. LI., agree in size and other characters with the corresponding parts of the existing 
species (Apteryw australis): but amongst the specimens transmitted by Goyernor Grey 
from the cavern at Tongariro there is a femur, which agrees in size with that of the 
smaller species of Apteryw figured and described by my friend Mr. Gould under the 
name of Apterya Owenii'. 
The shaft of the femur of the Apteryw is characterized by the convexity of the fore 
part of the shaft in the direction of its axis, which is due, not only to a slight bending 
of the whole shaft forwards, but to an enlargement in that direction of the middle of the 
fore part of the shaft: the trochanter does not rise much above the neck and head of 
the bone: its anterior border, which is thick and rounded, is produced : the broad outer 
and back part of the condyle is impressed by coarse irregular grooves and pits. Two 
intermuscular ridges diverge from the middle of the back part of the bone to each con- 
dyle. The fore part of the outer condyle is slightly inclined inwards. There is no 
‘foramen pneumaticum.’ 
The tarso-metatarse (figs. 7 & 8) presents the general characters of that compound 
bone in the Palapteryx: but the intercondyloid tubercle is relatively higher, and the 
inner border of the entocondyloid fossa is more convex: the ectocalcaneal process is also 
better developed and more distinct from the mesocalcaneal one: the chief tendinous 
groove lies, however, between this and the entocalcaneal process. The back part of the 
mesometatarse projects and supports, as a buttress, the mesocalcaneal process: on 
each side of this are the interosseous foramina which converge as they extend forwards, 
but open separately into the anterior fossa below the proximal end of the bone. This 
fossa is relatively larger and deeper than in Palapteryx or Dinornis, but is not extended 
so far down the bone as in Notornis. The rough articular depression (1, fig. 7) for the 
syndosmosis of the hallux is well-marked. The meso-metatarse advancing forwards at 
its lower half, makes a median prominence at that part of the common shaft: the 
groove between it and the ectometatarse is well-marked, and just before its termination 
it shows a small perforation from before backwards: this is the most distinctive mark 
between the tarso-metatarse of the Apteryx and that of the Palapterye. The inner con- 
dyle is the least produced, the middle one the most, and in a somewhat greater degree 
than in the Palapteryx. The trochlear groove deeply impresses the whole extent of 
the middle condyle: it is more feebly marked on the lateral condyles, except poste- 
riorly where the lateral border of each is produced backwards. 
* Zool; ‘Trans. vol. iii, p. $79. pl. 57. 
