‘THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. ~ 7k 
at the top of the head of a lizard such as Allebophora anguli- 
fer, so common about the Blue Mountains, there will be no- 
ticed a small grey or whitish object like a little round scale. 
This is the pineal or vestigal eye, and is all that remains of 
the original large functional eye in the centre of the skull, 
which was possessed by such reptiles as Zchthyosaurus (fish- 
lizard) of the Oolite and Lias. In all living lizards now pos- 
sessing it, the pineal eye is absolutely functionless in so far 
as seeing is concerned, and like the eye of the marsupial mole, 
retains only the partial remnants of what was originally a. 
functional eye. In many lizards there is no external evi- 
dence of the existence of the pineal eye, whilst in otherg it. 
is quite conspicuous. 
In addition to those mentioned, I exhibit specimens of the: 
following, which show the eye extremely well: Veranus in- 
dicus and V. prasinus, from British New Guinea, Brachy- 
lophus fasciatus from Fiji, and LMinulia lesueurii from New 
South Wales. The possession of this curious ancestral rem- 
nant is’ by no means confined to lizards, but it can be traced. 
in very many animals. In man it exists as a minute knob 
on a short stalk away down in the middle of the brain, and 
is known as the pineal body, having originally been so named 
from its shape being something like that of a pine cone; and, 
what is most interesting and suggestive, the stalk on which it 
is situated springs from the junction of the two optic nerves, 
just above where they enter the brain substance. This curious 
organ was supposed by the French philosopher Descartes to 
be the seat of the soul, because it appeared to be the only part 
of the brain that was not in duplicate. Another highly 
characteristic inhabitant of New Zealand, unfortunately now 
extinct, was the strange wingless bird, the Moa. There are 
plenty of traditions amongst the Maori, of the contemporane- 
ous existence of the Moa with the Maori race. The only relies: 
now remaining are a few feathers which were discovered in 
a cave, and the bones and fragments of egg-shells which are 
found in various situations in different parts of New Zealand. 
There were a number of species of Dinornis and other genera. 
of this wonderful bird, and I am able to show you bones of 
some of these. On one occasion I had the good fortune to 
find in a lava cave near Auckland the nearly complete skele- 
ton of a small species, Vinorus oweni lying in situ where the 
bird had died. The skull was lying at the top of the line 
of bony neck rings, and all the other bones in their natural 
position ; some of the bones had, however, perished through 
the dripping of water. This specimen is now in the Hunterian 
Museum, Glasgow University, to which institution I presented 
it some years ago. 
While dealing with New Zealand objects I would just like 
