217 
to other species, but presented similar relations of size to the femur and metatarsus 
of the Din. struthioides, which the previously described tibie have presented to the 
other bones of the leg of the respective species to which those tibia have been 
referred. 
I conclude, therefore, that in the tibia transmitted with the metatarsus of the Din. 
struthioides by Sir George Grey, I possess the bone, which I have been so long desirous 
to obtain in order to complete the leg of the Din. struthioides. Like the metatarsus 
above-cited, it is from the left side, and they BoE san to have belonged to the same 
individual bird. 
in. lin. 
The length of this bone is . . - a «eee 
The breadth of the proximal abtrennty re ia 
The breadth of the distal extremity. . . . 3 2 
The circumference of the middle of the shaft. 5 0 
The fibular ridge extends down . . . . . 10 O 
This ridge begins, as in the tibize of other species of Dinornis, below the expanded 
end of the tibia near the middle of its back part, inclining to its outer side. 
In its slender proportions, and the relative positions of the procnemial (p) and 
ectocnemial (e) ridges, the tibia of the Dinornis struthioides agrees with that of the 
D, dromioides. 
Description of the Bones of the Leg of the Dinornis gracilis. 
The advantage of additional specimens, as confirming, by the repetition of the same 
characters, a species previously defined, is still greater in respect of the ground which 
they afford for the discrimination of a distinct but nearly allied species. Notwith- 
standing the well-marked differences observable between the femur of the Dinornis 
struthioides (Pl. LIV. fig. 2) and the Dinornis gracilis (ibid. fig. 1), I might have 
deemed them due to differences of sex or individuals, had I not had evidence of the 
fixity of the specific characters of the Dinornis struthioides by the successive arrivals of 
additional specimens of its bones. Attending the hoped-for confirmation from such 
arrivals, it appeared to be most prudent to refrain from announcing a new species of 
the rapidly increasing family of the great wingless birds of New Zealand until further 
evidence might be obtained by corresponding differences in the tibia and metatarsi 
of the two species. 
Having had the good fortune at length to receive, through the kind contributions of 
the Rev. Richard Taylor, M.A., of Wanganui, and of W. E. Cormack, Esq., of Auck- 
land, New Zealand, these additional illustrations of the Din. gracilis, I no longer delay 
the publication of descriptions and figures of them. 
3M2 
