Page:Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute - Volume 1 (2nd ed.).djvu/40

24 The skeleton articulated for the Canterbury Museum, has been selected from this subdivision.

The femur is larger than Professor Owen’s didiformis, but smaller than his dromioides.

The tibia is about three-tenths of an inch shorter than Professor Owen’s, and comparatively more slender.

The metatarsus exhibits the same characters as the figured one, but is shorter by nearly an inch:

Femur still a little larger generally, tibia and metatarsus smaller than Professor Owen’s figured bones; but I may observe that I articulated this subdivision only after great hesitation, and that I do not feel at all satisfied about its correctness. However, several of the bones were found lying close together, and may therefore have really belonged to one bird; and the general character of the bones may lead us again to the conclusion that they were young specimens of the two former:

We possess only the three principal bones of one leg and odd bones of two other specimens; they are larger and slightly thicker than those of Dinornis struthioides. On the other hand they are much smaller than those of Palapteryx ingens. There is no dent or depression on the back of the metatarsus, for the attachment of the back metatarsal trachlea. This bird was bow-legged, and resembled most Dinornis struthioides in its principal characteristics, although of larger dimensions:

The bones belong evidently to adult birds. Three specimens.