collector of organic remains among the most precious of his acquisitions until a few years ago, when a most extraordinary discovery in New Zealand astonished and delighted the palæontologist, by placing before him hundreds of bones of extinct genera of birds, some of which must have far surpassed in stature the most gigantic living biped-the Ostrich.

THE MOA OF NEW ZEALAND. -Native Traditions.'-In various districts of New Zealand there had been occasionally observed in the beds of the mountain-torrents and rivers, bones of several kinds of birds, of almost incredible magnitude.

The Maoris, or natives, were acquainted with the occurrence of such bones long ere the country was visited by Europeans; and traditions were rife among them that a race of gigantic birds formerly existed in great numbers, and served as food to their remote ancestors. They also believed that some of the largest species had been seen alive within the memory of man, and that individuals were still existing in the unfrequented and inaccessible parts of the country. They called the bird MoA, and stated that its head and tail were adorned with plumes of magnificent feathers, which were worn and much prized by their ancient chiefs as ornaments of distinction. The bones were sought for with avidity, and were used in the manufacture of lures for fish-hooks, and other implements.

The first European who appears to have taken cognizance of these facts, and paid attention to the native traditions on the subject, was the intelligent and active missionary, the Rev. W. Colenso, who in a journey to the East Cape District with the Rev. J. Williams, had his curiosity strongly excited by the accounts given by the natives of the prodigious

The following account of the Fossil Birds of New Zealand comprises the substance of a Lecture delivered by the Author before the BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF SCIENCE at Edinburgh, August 5th, 1851. The history of the discovery is drawn up from various sources; principally from the letters of my eldest son, MR. WALTER MANTELL, of Wellington, who has resided in the colony upwards of eleven years: the geological facts are entirely the result of his personal observations. The anatomical descriptions, and the determination of the zoological characters and relations of the various species and genera, are chiefly abstracts of the valuable "Memoirs on the Dinornis, &c.," by PROFESSOR OWEN, in the 'Zoological Transactions," vols. iii. and iv.

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size and strength of the Moa, which they affirmed was still living; and they alleged in proof of the accuracy of their statements, the enormous bones occasionally discovered in the neighbouring river-channels. After much labour and

research, Mr. Colenso at length procured a few specimens, and subsequently a considerable number were collected by the Rev. W. Williams, a masterly account of which was drawn up by the former gentleman, and published in the Tasmanian Journal.'

HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY.-In November, 1839, British naturalists were first made acquainted with the discovery of bones of colossal ostrich-like birds in New Zealand, by the fragment of a thigh-bone of a bird much larger than that of the Ostrich, which had been brought to England by a Mr. RULE, who lent the specimen to Professor Owen, by whom it was described in the "Zoological Transactions." This bone was part of the shaft of a femur, with both extremities wanting; it was about six inches in length, and five and a half inches in its smallest circumference. From the form and structure of this fragment, it was inferred that it belonged to a struthious bird, heavier and more sluggish than the Ostrich, with thighs and legs shorter and thicker; its proportions more nearly resembling those of the Dodo, than of any of the existing Struthionidæ. "The discovery of this relic of a large struthious bird in New Zealand," observes Professor Owen, "is one of peculiar interest on account of the remarkable character of the existing fauna of that island, which still includes one of the most extraordinary and anomalous genera of the order-the Apteryx; and because of the close analogy which the event indicated by the present relic offers to the extinction of the Dodo of the islands of the Mauritius and Rodrigue."

2 י

In Dr. Dieffenbach's "Travels in New Zealand," (1843,) ́ under the article Apteryx Australis, there is the following notice: To this order (Struthionidae) probably belongs a bird, now extinct, called Moa or Movie by the natives. The

1 See Appendix A. Mr. Colenso's Memoir.

2 "Zoological Transactions," Vol. III. Part I. It is much to be regretted that this first specimen was not preserved in the College of Surgeons; but Mr. Rule informed me the purchase of it was declined, and he afterwards sold it for 37. to Mr. Bright, of Bristol.

evidences are a bone very little fossilized, which was brought from New Zealand by Mr. Rule to Mr. Gray, and by him sent to Professor Richard Owen. I possess drawings of similar bones, and of what may possibly be a claw of the same bird, which are in the possession of the Rev. R. Taylor, of Waimate. They were found on the east coast of the North Island, and were brought down by rivulets from a neighbouring mountain called Hikorangi."1

In 1843, a collection, comprising vertebræ, and bones of the hinder extremities, pelvis, &c., were transmitted by the Rev. W. Williams to the Dean of Westminster, (Dr. Buckland ;) and in 1846 many specimens were sent to England by Dr. Mackellar, Mr. Percy Earle, and Colonel Wakefield. These were placed in the hands of Professor Owen, and form the subject of his first and second "Memoirs on the Dinornis," in the "Zoological Transactions," Vol. III., in which the genera Dinornis, Palapteryx, &c., were established.

In 1846 and 1847, my eldest son, Mr. Walter Mantell, of Wellington, who had resided several years in the colony, explored every known locality of these fossil bones within his reach, in the North Island; and went into the interior of the country, and located with the natives, for the purpose of collecting specimens, and of ascertaining whether any of these gigantic birds were still in existence; resolving, if there appeared to be the least chance of success, to penetrate into the unfrequented regions, and obtain a live Moa. The information gathered from the natives offered no encouragement to follow up the pursuit, but tended to confirm the idea that this race of colossal bipeds was extinct; the last individuals having, in all probability, like the Dodo, been exterminated by human agency, within a comparatively recent period: or that if any of the species whose bones occur in a fossil state are still living, they will prove to be of comparatively small types related to the Apteryx, the living diminutive representative of the stupendous ostrich-like birds which once trod the soil of New Zealand.

My son succeeded, however, in forming the most interesting collection of these remains hitherto obtained. It comprised between seven and eight hundred bones belonging to birds of

1 "Travels in New Zealand," vol. ii. p. 195.

various species and genera, and differing considerably in magnitude and age; some belonging to very young individuals in which the epiphyses of the long bones are distinct from the shaft; while others are those of adult and aged birds. The chief part of this collection is deposited in the Table-Cases 15, 16, 17.1

GEOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND.-The fossil bones of birds from New Zealand, in the British Museum, have been obtained from two localities, which are several hundred miles distant from each other; one being in the North, and the other in the South Island; and the deposits in which they occur differ considerably in their geological and mineralogical character.

As the interest of these fossil remains is intimately connected with the physical conditions under which they were deposited, we will first briefly explain the geological structure of the country, and afterwards describe the localities whence the bones were obtained.

NEW ZEALAND is situated in the South Pacific Ocean, lying between the thirtieth and fiftieth degrees of south latitude, and forming a group of three mountainous islands, which in their aggregate extent equal that of England and Wales. Its geological structure is with difficulty determined, owing to the primeval forests which fringe the coasts; and where these have been destroyed by ancient conflagrations, by impenetrable thickets of esculent ferns. The fundamental rock is clayslate, and this is frequently traversed by greenstone dykes, as at Port Nicholson, Queen Charlotte's Sound, and Cloudy Bay.

On the banks of the rivers Eritonga, Waibo, and along some parts of the sea-coast, there are horizontal terraces of trap-boulders fifty feet high. Anthracite crops out in the harbour of Wangarua; and there is a seam of the same mineral intercalated in the sandstone on the east shores of the North Island.

The coasts are in many places skirted by recent horizontal sediments, consisting of loam with fragments of wood and fern, &c. The small rocky islets of trachyte off the coast of

This collection was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum for 2001. See Appendix B. Mr. Walter Mantell's Collection.

the Northern Island, bear marks of wave-action to the height of 100 feet above the present sea-level. In the interior of this island there is a lofty central group of volcanic mountains, some of the cones being still in activity; the ancient lavastreams appear to have been erupted from the base of the craters. The highest mountains are Tongariro, which is estimated at six thousand feet in height, and Mount Egmont, at nine thousand feet: the summits are covered with perpetual There are many lakes which appear to occupy extinct ancient craters. Earthquakes are not unfrequent, and of late years some have occurred of unusual violence, from which the town of Wellington suffered considerably.

snow.

The comparatively modern terraces of loam and gravel which stretch along the coasts at an elevation of from fifty to one hundred feet above the sea, attest that great changes in the relative level of land and water have taken place at no very distant period. The existing rivers of New Zealand almost everywhere cut deeply through accumulations of volcanic detritus which in some places contain birds' bones; and these beds are here and there covered by marine and freshwater deposits of very modern origin. All these phenomena indicate the oscillations to which the land has recently been subjected.

In the Middle Island, according to my son's observations, as in the Northern, the lowermost visible rocks are clay-slate and metamorphic schists, intersected by dykes of greenstone, and compact and amygdaloidal basalt; and in some places there are intruded masses of obsidian, and other volcanic products. Hornblende and porphyritic rocks, gneiss and serpentine occur; but granite has not been observed.

Mountain ranges of schistose and metamorphic rocks extend through the country, from near Cloudy Bay on the northeast, to the south-western extremity of the Island, a distance of between three and four hundred miles; their crests everywhere attain an elevation above the line of perpetual snow,— hence they were named the Southern Alps by Captain Cook. These hills are flanked by volcanic grits, and covered at their base by alluvial deposits, that have evidently originated from the decomposition of trachytic rocks and earthy lavas.

No active volcanoes are known in the Middle Island, nor have any extinct craters been discovered: but as the physical

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