444 
which springs a shorter transparent feather-barrel, never longer than half an inch. On 
- the dorsal surface a few of the quills still carry fragments of the webs, some being two 
inches in length, From this it appears that the colour of the barbs was chestnut-red, 
like Apteryx australis, but that they had two equal plumes to each barrel, as in the 
Emu and Cassowary, and in that respect differed from the Apteryx, the feathers of 
which have no after-plume. On the other hand, the barbs of the webs of the feathers 
do not seem to have been soft and downy towards the base as in the Emu”! As 
however, not any of the feathers had preserved their entire length, the equality of the 
after-plume in that dimension with the main plume is doubtful. 
With regard to the preservation of the skin on the pelvic bones and cervical vertebree 
of Moa-skeletons, it may, in part, be due to its unusual density and thickness in that 
bird, in which character the Kivi resembles its extinct allies, 
I have already had occasion to remark :—“In the Apferyx the cutaneous system of 
muscles presents a more distinct and extensive development than has hitherto been met 
with in the class of Birds, a condition which is evidently connected with the peculiar 
thickness of the integument”*. So also Dr. Buller remarks:—‘“‘ In preparing my 
specimens [of Apterya mantelli] 1 was astonished at the toughness of the skin.” And 
Mr. Dawson Rowley was led to observe :—‘ I have a portion of the skin of an adult 
male Apteryx before me; this is so thick that a pair of light shoes might easily be 
made of it. In setting up these birds, the toughness of the skin is such that it can 
hardly be relaxed: water has little effect upon it. It resembles leather ” 3, 
We need be the less surprised, therefore, to hear of cases of preservation of the 
thicker and harder skin covering the nude parts of the legs and feet. The Manu- 
herikia imstance (1864) has already been noticed (pp. 154 and 248), ‘en years later 
the following parts were discovered in a crevice amongst the mica-schist rocks at Gallo- 
way station in the same (Manuherikia) district. They consisted of a right metatarsus 
with parts of the toes, a fragment of the left metatarsus, a right tibia, a left femur, and 
afragment of a sternum. Capt. Hutton, in his memoir on these remains, states:— 
*“ Judging by the measurements, I believe them to belong to Dinornis ingens, Owen” 4, 
In the right metatarsus “the whole of the skin and muscles of the posterior side are 
well preserved, while on nearly the whole of the anterior side they haye gone. The 
bone thus exposed is bleached quite white, and the animal matter so much removed 
that the bone adheres to the tongue like ordinary Moa-bones found on the surface. 
“The hind toe (hallux) is well preserved, being held in its position by the skin. Of 
the inner toe only the first joint remains, together with the flexor tendons. Of the 
middle toe the first two joints are left united with the skin of the sole of the foot, Of 
' Tom. vit, p, 114. ® Anite, p. 42. 
* Buller, * Birds of New Zealand,’ 4to, 1873, p. 368. This is an exception to the character of the corium 
assigned to the class of pirds in anatomical works, 
* Trans. New-Zealand Institute, yol, vii, 1875, p. 266. 
