458 
The matrix of a foot-print of the size of that figured in Plate CXVI. fig. 1 consisted 
of quartzose sand and finely comminuted clay; no tufaceous deposit was detected in 
it. ‘The impressed slab was presented to the British Museum by the Rev. R. H. Davies, 
of Chelsea, who had received it from a brother resident at Auckland. It was accom- 
panied by the following note:— This specimen was found at the junction of the 
Waikanai Creek with the Turanganui River, at Gisborne, Poverty Bay, New Zealand.” 
The formation is of a recent character, geologically. 
From the evidences of the foot-prints which have reached me, I refer them to three 
species of Dinornis. The largest series agree in size with the foot-bones of Dinornis 
ingens, and they exhibit indications of the tip of a hind toe having touched the sand 
after the sole of the foot had sunk about an inch therein. (See the three impressions, 
fig. 2, in Plate CX VL.) 
From the tip of the middle toe (11.) to that of the back toe measures 1 foot 6 inches ; 
the extreme breadth of the foot is 13 inches; the length of the middle toe, including 
the end of its metatarsal, would be about 15 inches; but the skin covering that end 
would probably not touch hard ground, nor would the back toe, on such ground, reach 
the surface. These impressions were probably made by a Dinornis ingens. 
The second series of ornithichnites, fig. 3, I refer to Dinornis struthioides; the third 
series, fig. 4, to Dinornis dromioides. Of this series a cast of one of the foot-prints is 
lithographed of the natural size, fig. 1. It indicates a greater proportional extent of 
the interdigital connecting membrane than in the Emu or Cassowary, and a foot better 
adapted for progression over yielding or swampy ground. The presence of a back toe, 
as in fig. 2, 1., would give, on the foot sinking to a certain depth, additional resistance 
in traversing boggy land. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATE. 
PLATE CXYI. 
Fig. 1. Cast of foot-print of Dinornis dromioides: nat. size. 
Fig. 2. Reduced outlines of impressions of three of a consecutive series of foot-prints 
of Dinornis ingens. 
Fig. 3. Reduced outlines of impressions of three of a consecutive series of foot-prints of 
Dinors struthioides. 
Fig. 4. Reduced outlines of impressions of a series of five consecutive foot-prints of 
Dinornis dremioides. 
