Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/262

244 the feathers. Judging from their general structure, and from the habits of their nearest living allies, these great wingless birds may be supposed to have inhabited the plains and hillsides rather than the forests of New Zealand, and to have been omnivorous, feeding indiscriminately on seeds and roots, lizards and insects. Crop-stones are often found in little heaps beside their skeletons, and as these are generally such stones as occur in the neighbourhood, it has been inferred that the Dinornis was comparatively stationary in its habits. New Zealand has been so thoroughly explored in recent years as to render it highly improbable that the inoa, as the Dinornis is called by the Maoris, will yet be found alive, but there seems sufficient reason for believing that its final extinction may have taken place since the arrival of the Maori race in New Zealand. The Maoris have only been settled there for about five centuries, yet they have traditions regarding moa hunting, its bones are found in ancient cooking ovens, and many specimens have been obtained in which portions of the skin with feathers attached are still preserved. An egg has also been recently found containing the bones of the chick, and another measuring 10 inches long and 7 inches broad was taken from a grave, where it rested in the hands of a human skeleton. There is evidence of the coexistence in New Zealand of about 20 species of moas during post-Pliocene times, and this, as A. R. Wallace remarks, points to the conclusion that New Zealand was at one time a much more extensive laud than it now is ; while the fact, that recently remains of the Dinornis have been found iu a post- Pliocene deposit in Queensland strengthens the supposition that when the moa nourished Australia and New Zealand formed portions of one continent.  DINOTHERIUM, an extinct mammal, fossil remains of which occur in the Miocene beds of France, Germany, Greece, and Northern India. These until lately consisted exclusively of teeth and the bones of the head. An entire skull, obtained from the Epplesheim beds of Hesse Darmstadt in, measured 4J feet in length and 3 feet in breadth, and thus indicated an animal exceeding the elephant in size. Its upper jaw was destitute of incisor and canine teeth, but possessed 5 molars on each side, with a corresponding number in the jaw beneath, Its most remarkable feature, however, consisted in the front part of the lower jaw being bent downwards and bearing two tusk- like incisors also directed downwards and backwards. Judging from these remains Professor Owen placed the Dinotherium among the proboscidean mammals ; De Blaiuville, on the other hand, regarded it as an aquatic animal, destitute of legs, and somewhat resembling the manatee, its reversed tusks having probably been used to moor the creature to the bank of the streams it frequented, or to assist it in leaving the water. The recent discovery, however, of limb bones, decidedly proboscidean in type, and supposed to belong to the Dinotherium, supports the view that these creatures were more akin to the elephant and mastodon than to the manatee.  DIOCESE, from the Greek SiotK^o-i? primarily meaning administration, then the territorial circumscription in which administration was exercised was first used to denote the Greek provinces of the Roman empire, or more properly the portion of a province ruled by a propraetor. Thus Cicero had, besides Cilicia, three &quot; dioceses &quot; in Asia. Bingham (lib. ix. c. 1) says that the division of the empire into clerical dioceses was in the time of Constantine, whereas the division into provinces was much anterior. He goes on to show that the primitive church followed exactly the example of the empire in her territorial arrangements. As in every metropolis of each province there was a magistrate with authority over the magistrates of each city, so in every metropolis there was a bishop, whose authority extended over the entire province, who was thence called &quot; metropolitan,&quot; or &quot; primate,&quot; as being the first or principal bishop of the province. And everywhere the episcopal sees were under the authority of the bishop of the civil metropolis, except in Africa, where the primate was usually the senior bishop of the province. The term &quot; diocese,&quot; however, was sometimes used in the more com prehensive, and the term province in the less comprehensive sense, as appears from the Notitia dignitatum Imperii, drawn up, as it would seem, in the time of the emperors Arcadius and Honorius (see Bingham, loc. cit.) The territorial division, however, as given in the Notitia, was purely civil. But Bingham tells us that, though we have no equally ancient account of the ecclesiastical division of the empire, yet if we compare the fragmentary bits of in formation which may be picked out of the acts of and subscriptions to the earlier councils with later notices, it will be seen that the ecclesiastical very exactly followed the civil distribution. It may be mentioned that, before the, the term &quot; parish&quot; TrapoiKta was often used indiscriminately with the word &quot; diocese,&quot; a circumstance which has caused ecclesiastical antiquarians to expend much erudition in showing that, despite the confusion of terms, the thing intended corresponded to our idea of a diocese, and not to our idea of a parish. The uncertainty with regard to the number and circumscription of the English ecclesiastical dioceses under the Romans is great, and the information attainable fragmen tary. At the council of Aries, held in, the bishop of York, the bishop of London, and the bishop &quot; de colonia Lindi,&quot; probably Lincoln, are recorded to have been present. But the changes in the number and territorial circumscription following the Saxon invasion and not yet finally completed were so great that volumes of minute antiquarian investigation would be needed to trace in so far as it may be still possible to trace the progress of nomenclature and delimitation of the various dioceses of Britain from the first establishment of them to. The division of dioceses found to be too large to be conveniently administered by one bishop was practised from very early times, as may be seen by the decrees of a council held in Portugal about. Another reason for dividing a diocese, and establishing a new see, has been recognized by the church as duly existing &quot; if the sovereign should think fit to endow some principal village or town with the rank and privileges of a city&quot; (Bingham, lib. xvii. c. 5). But there are canons for the punishment of such as might induce the sovereign so to erect any town into a city, solely with the view of becoming bishop thereof. Nor could any diocese be divided without the consent of the primate. In the countries more immediately subjected to the Roman pontiff the multiplication of dioceses has been excessive, the number of them in the apostolic dominions being no less than 68, while the Roman Church reckons in the Whole of Europe (exclusive of the English, but inclusive of the Irish sees) 578 sees.  DIOCLETIAN. (–), Roman emperor, was born of obscure parents near Salona, in Dalmatia, and reigned from to  He entered the army and served with high distinction, held important commands under the emperors Probus and Aurelian, and accompanied Carus to the Persian war. After the death of Numerianus he was chosen emperor by the troops at Chalcedon, and slew with his own hands Arrius Aper, the prefect of the praetorians. His advent to the throne marks the commencement of the, 29,. Having been installed at 