319° 
the Dinornis elephantopus, and deeming it probable that some slight variation of breadth 
to length in the egg might accord with a similar modification of robustness to height of 
the body in the species, I inferred that the specimen was the egg of Dinornis ingens, 
As such it was offered for sale by auction, 24th November, 1865. 
The ‘ Note of Sale’ stated that ‘‘A man in Mr. Fyfe’s employment at Kai Koras was 
digging the foundation of a house ; and when on the side of a small mound, he suddenly 
came upon the egg in question and the skeleton of a man, supposed to be a Maori. 
The body had evidently been buried in a sitting posture; and the egg must have been 
placed in the hands, as, when found, the arms were extended in such a manner as to 
bring the egg opposite the mouth of the deceased.’’ In corroboration of this story | 
received from J. Davies Enys, Esq., of Christchurch, New Zealand, the following 
Note :—‘' I beg to state that, being on a visit to the Kaikouras at the latter end of 1861, 
I was shown by Mr. Fyfe the Moa-egg, together with a human skull and a blackstone 
adze, which he kept in a box together, as having been found together when digging the 
foundation for a Store close to his house. Mr. Fyfe observed at the same time that 
he had only preserved the skull of the skeleton with which the egg was found, and that 
the Maories had no traditions whatever of a burial-place in that locality, although one 
of their Pas is situated about a mile from the spot..... Since writing these notes, I 
have asked Mr. John Innes, who was living at a station in the neighbourhood shortly 
after the time the egg was found, if he remembered the circumstances under which it 
was discovered. He entirely confirms the correctness of the account I have given, and 
adds that the egg was found in the early part of the year 1860, or at the end of 
1859 ”*. 
The unique subject of this communication was purchased by George Dawson Row- 
ley, Esq,, *.Z.S,, and is now in his Museum of Ornithological Treasures at Chichester 
House, East cit, Brighton. Iam indebted to him for the opportunity of figuring the 
specimen in Plate CXVII. of the present work. 
In 1866 two eggs were discovered in the alluvial sandy loam of the ‘* Upper Clitha 
Plains, Otago.”” The first was 2 feet from the surface, the second about a foot apart, 
and 3 inches deeper. Of the first and most perfect egg, pieces were extracted which, 
when fitted together, made nearly one complete side of the egg, from which its dimen. 
sions were estimated at—long diameter 8°9 inches, short diameter 6°] inches’’’. 
The egg-shell had been eroded by the solvents of the soil; but on the granular surface 
so produced the characteristic linear pores were distinctly visible. A portion of shell 
yielded 0°9 per cent. of organic matter, that of a recent Emu’s egg yielding 7-89 of 
organic matter’, ‘The Moa’s egg-shell had thus not been long enough in the soil to 
part with all its soluble constituent, though much, doubtless, had been dissolved. 
The second egg was too far decomposed to admit of removal. 
* See also Mr. Enys’s letter in the ‘Christchurch Press’ of August 3rd, 1871. 
* Hector, Dr. J., F.R.S., * Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ 1867, p. 991. > Thid. 
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