in Table-case 16, from Waingongoro; and I have lately received from the same locality other examples.

Cranium of Palapteryx.-The cranium (Lign. 28) bears a general resemblance to that of the Emeu, but is broader in proportion to its height, especially in the occipital and interorbital regions. It is remarkably depressed, of a subquadrate form, with two lateral emarginations for the temporal fossæ; and both in size and shape corresponds more with the skull of the Dodo than with that of any living struthious bird. It partakes of the general osteological modifications observable in that of Dinornis, as previously pointed out, but differs in the lesser expansion of the basi-occipitals (Lign. 29, a. a.), and par-occipitals (Lign. 29, b. b.), and the greater development of the mastoid processes (Lign. 29, c. c.); and in having a large oblong depression beneath the mastoid for the single superior condyle of the tympanic bone.

The foramen magnum is subcircular, its plane vertical, and the single occipital condyle projects backwards on a short pedicle, beyond the upper margin of the foramen. The skull of no existing bird has this peculiarity, which resembles the cranial character of some of the chelonians or turtles. The occipital region is very wide and low, and slopes forwards as it rises to join the upper surface of the skull, which is almost flat. (See Lign. 29.)

The upper mandible resembles that of the Emeu, but the nasal process is shorter and broader than in that bird. The anterior part (premaxillary) is more obtuse than in the Emeu, and its palatal surface has a distinct perforated alveolar border, which is grooved along its outer part. The lower jaw has the symphysis concave above from side to side, instead of flat as in existing struthious birds, and the outer part of the alveolar border is convex and the inner furrowed, thus presenting a surface adapted to the corresponding palatal aspect of the upper mandible.

The ethmoid cavities, or upper nostrils, are very large, as in the Apteryx; a peculiarity denoting a great development of the organs of smell.

The skull with these cranial characters is that described in Professor Owen's second memoir, as the type of his genus Dinornis, and from which the outline of the restored head of the original was designed; but on the discovery of the cranium

SKULL OF PALA PTERYX OF NEW ZEALAND: DISCOVERED BY MR. WALTER MANTELL, IN THE MENACCANITE-SAND DEPOSIT AT WAINGONGORO, IN THE NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND.

(nat. size.)

with the enormously developed occipital region, and adzelike upper mandible delineated in Lign. 26, and which deviates so remarkably from all known ornithic forms, the name Dinornis was transferred to this type, and the former cranium was assigned to the new genus named Palapteryx.

The bones of the hinder extremities referred to this genus are characterised by their nearer approach to those of the Apteryx, than is preserved by the analogous parts in Dinornis. The tarso-metarsals, which belonged to a colossal tetradactyle, or four-toed bird, as shown by a posterior articular depression for connexion with a hind toe, are ascribed to Palapteryx; only one metatarsal of a fourth toe has been observed among the many hundred specimens of bones of the feet that have been collected. Until other series of bones are found collocated in their natural positions or relations, like those of the pair of feet of D. robustus (ante p. 116), the ascription of isolated bones to definite species, and the restoration of their several members, however skilful the adaptation, must be received with due caution and regarded only as provisional. In many instances, Prof. Owen's application of the Cuvierian principles of correlation of structure, has, however, been signally successful, and warrants full confidence in his general deductions.

Bones of the wings.—Notwithstanding the great number of bones of the hinder extremities and of other parts of the skeleton that have been sent to England, one fragment only, of the humerus, has been detected, that could have belonged to any of the large struthious birds of New Zealand; it is supposed to be referable to a species of Palapteryx, and indicates as rudimentary a condition of the wing as in the living species of Apteryx.

FOSSIL EGG-SHELLS OF THE MOA.-Table-Case 16.-In the deposit of menaccanite-sand at Waingongoro, so rich in the osseous remains of the extinct birds of New Zealand, Mr. Walter Mantell discovered the only vestiges of eggs hitherto obtained. They are small fragments; the largest specimen is four inches long and two wide, and the chord it describes shows it to be part of an egg very much larger than that of the ostrich. These precious relics are relatively thin, of a pale cream colour, and of three distinct types. In one species the external surface is smooth; in another, the surface approaches

that of the Rhea or Cassowary; the third is marked with delicate interrupted linear grooves. The sculpturing in these two species is distinct from that observable on any of the eggs of existing struthionidæ with which I have been able to compare them.

Fossil Eggs from Madagascar.-As intimately connected with this subject, I am induced to append the following notice of a recent discovery in Madagascar of eggs of enormous magnitude :

"In a Report to the French Académie des Sciences, M. Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire described three enormous fossil eggs from Madagascar, and some bones belonging to the same bird. The captain of a merchant vessel trading to Madagascar, one day observed a native using for a domestic purpose a vase which much resembled an egg, and upon examination proved to be one. The native stated that many such were to be found in the interior of the island, and eventually procured the eggs and bones exhibited by M. St. Hilaire. The largest of these eggs is equal in bulk to 135 hens' eggs, and will hold two gallons of water. M. St. Hilaire proposes the name of Epiornis for the monster biped of which these marvellous eggs and bones are the first evidence brought under the notice of naturalists." 1

APTORNIS. (A. otidiformis).-Table-Case 16. (Lign. 30.)— Among the bones collected by Mr. Walter Mantell from the ossiferous deposit at Te Rangatapu, and transmitted to me in 1847, there were femora, a tibia and fibula, and several tarsometatarsals, of a cursorial bird, to which he directed special attention, because he thought the latter strikingly resembled the corresponding bones of the Dodo. Upon allowing Prof. Owen the use of my son's collection as soon as it arrived, the metatarsals in question were recognised as belonging to a species of Dinornis established in 1843, from a tibia and femur sent over by the Rev. W. Williams, and named D. otidiformis.2

In the "Memoir on the Ornithic Remains discovered by Mr. Walter Mantell at Waingongoro," (Zool. Trans. vol. iii. p. 345), these specimens are alluded to in the following terms :"There are not fewer than 190 phalanges of the toes, refer

'Athenæum, March 22, 1851. 2 Zool. Trans. vol. iii. Pl. xxv. xxvi.