Proceedings. ‘ 519 
Two Meteorological Tables for October and November, constructed from 
observations made at Government House, by Messrs. H. Hull and F. §, 
Dobson, with the Aneroid and Syphon Barometers, the Sympiesometer and 
Thermometers, were placed before the meeting. Dr. Officer observed that 
fallen to their share. The only human manufacture we found was a small 
ball of baked clay, the work most likely of some ingenious young savage, 
stopped on the threshold of the invention of pottery by a vindictive tibia — 
thrown at his head by his enraged parent, with a concise order to go egg 
hunting, and not waste his time that way ;—which brings me to eggs 
again. Here and there among the stones and bones was a mass of frag- 
ments of egg shells, which, having been the first to discover them in your 
island, I at once recognized, but which the Maories declared to be pieces of 
skulls, for which, while with the tent poles (our digging implements) they 
turned them out every five minutes, they were vainly seeking. Of these 
(the eggshells) I made them collect every fragment which did not escape 
them in the black mud, and on a subsequent visit which they made for 
me, for I could not spare time to prosecute the search, they brought a 
further supply, reporting that they had thoroughly dug out all the ovens, 
I found it necessary to wash each fragment separately with a brush and 
water, brushing even the edges, so tenaciously did the black slime cling 
tothem. There were several thousand fragments, from two inches square 
downwards—about half a gallon (I know not how otherwise to describe 
their quantity), of all sorts, thoroughly mixed. 
After carefully sorting these I have with some little patience succeeded — 
in joining in their original places fragments of about 20 eggs, of from 6 to 
8 different species. Of some the whole number of pieces restored makes 
but a sorry figure, though large enough to give accurately the size of the 
egg, and far larger than any previously found.# But in three or four 
(consisting of from 100 to 200 fragments each) no calculation is required, 
so I can venture to give their dimensions as ascertained by a foot rule and 
measuring tape. 
\ Circumfer. 
_ Long Diam. Short Diam. Round Mid, 
in. in. in, 
H. D, 1. roughly and sinuously furrowed, 
ends dotted......... Bs vesadvousse Beran stars 8 7 21 
H. D., 2. White, enamelled, furrowslong, 
small scattered round papillee............666 
H. D. 3. White, furrows short straight 
parallel and very regular, ends dotted... 9 TA 22:2 
J. D., 4. Buff and white; thickly, deeply, 
and singularly furrowed on one side, less 
so on the other, ends gradually plain...... 105 28 2 24 
I could give you more examples, but I am not attempting a scientific essay, 
a task to which I feel thoroughly incompetent, and the above will restore 
us and our Moas to a little more respectable position in comparison with our 
huge Madagascar rival; besides, as there were no bones of the largest 
Dinornis in the ovens, and only one or two (?) of any Dinornis, we may 
fairly infer that its eggs are even totally absent, and that these are all of 
Palapteryx. I do not profess to be certain on this point, as I am not a 
scientific man, but ground my inference on the close correspondence of the 
10 7:2 216 
*The largest of these, about four inches long, I found at Rangatapu, N.I, six years 
ago: it is now in the British Museum, 
