stances generally so indestructible would surely have left some fragment of themselves, more or less, which they have not done. Most of the markings are formed chiefly of micaceous laminæ, like the rest of the rock, and in the two or three instances where the presence of a foreign body can be detected, it seems to be of a concretionary nature. Mr Robert Loudon Irvine, of Hurlet Chemical Works, who kindly consented to analyse one of these foreign bodies sufficiently to determine its chief ingredients, thus reports on it. "It consists mainly of carbonate of lime, with iron existing mostly in the state of protoxide and alumina. There are neither sulphates nor sulphurets present. The black colour is probably due to the presence of carbonate of protoxide of iron." Sir Roderick Murchison and the Rev. Mr Mitchell of Craig have, independently of each other, pointed out a remote resemblance in the impressions to what is in Forfarshire called "the Kelpie's foot;" but neither of those gentlemen regards the phenomena as identical. At the suggestion of Sir Roderick, the matter has been referred to Professor Phillips of Oxford, who has had much experience of obscure markings like the present. He has already received specimens of the impressions; and it is probable that one of the larger pieces of the slab will have to go to England for thorough examination there. II. Notice of Various Ornithic Fossil Bones from New Zealand. The bones which I have now the pleasure of exhibiting to the Royal Physical Society were found in a limestone cave in the northern island of New Zealand, and were given to me for examination by Mr D. F. Paterson, of Kerr Street, near Stockbridge, in this city. In a letter received from Mr Paterson, he states, that "the large bones were sent home by Dr A. S. Thomson, of the 58th regiment, to his father, James Thomson, Esq. of Glendowan, as rare bones. The skull was unknown to Dr Thomson, and differed from all the Moa's skulls that he had seen; at the same time, he thinks it belongs to the genus Dinornis. The bones of the little bird, found along with the others, were altogether unknown. The cave in which the bones. were found is on the western side of the North Island, near Rotomarrama, at the bottom of a hill. The entrance is twentyfive feet high and eighteen feet broad, and its mouth is concealed with shrubs. The cave is about a mile in length, run ning under the hill, and the bones are found in all parts; some under soft sand and limestone, others covered with a crust of limestone only. Glowworms were seen in the cave, but no plants. This is called the Cave of the Spirit. It is held in great terror by the natives, and some now alive say they have seen a living moa, that it lived in the cave, and used to stand on one foot, so that it is just possible that the moa may still be alive in some of the wildest and most secluded parts of the island. Dr Thomson gave some bones to Governor Gray several years ago, and is not quite sure that the governor did not give them to Professor Owen. There is another limestone cave, called the Cave of the Moa: this is of less extent than the former, and is about seventeen miles from Honipaka. The animals resorted to the caves to die. The natives used the larger bones to make fish-hooks, the skulls to hold their tatooing powder, and for other purposes; thus, few of the leg-bones or skulls can now be got." In November 1839, Professor Owen read a communication. before the Zoological Society of London, in which he described a portion of the shaft of a femur, six inches in length, and five and a half inches in circumference, which had been brought from New Zealand. After a careful and critical examination, that distinguished paleontologist pronounced the fragment of bone to belong to a large bird, allied to the ostrich; and staked his anatomical reputation, that species of birds heavier and more sluggish than the ostrich would be discovered to have existed in New Zealand. In less than four years afterwards, this inference was happily confirmed from numerous bones transmitted to this country, which were found in the bed and banks of fresh water rivers at Poverty Bay, buried only at a little depth in the mud. From these fragments of bone, Professor Owen was enabled to establish three genera of extinct birds, which he named Dinornis, Palapteryx, and Aptornis. In 1847, the late Dr Gideon Mantell received from his son. Mr Walter Mantell, no less than eight hundred specimens of fossil bones, which were obtained from North Island, found in a bed of sand called the " Waingongora Bone-bed." In 1850, another collection of about five hundred specimens of fossil bones were sent home by Mr Walter Mantell, two hundred of which were from the same locality as the former, whilst the remainder were obtained from Waikouaiti, on the eastern coast of the Middle Island. This latter bone-bed is covered by a layer of sand, and appears to have been an ancient swamp or moss, in which the New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) once flourished. A pair of perfect tarso-metatarsal bones were found standing erect in this bed, with all the toebones attached, which are now known to form part of the skeleton of the species that has received the name of “ Dinornis robustus." From the fragments of ornithic fossil bones transmitted at various times from New Zealand, Professor Owen has succeeded in establishing thirteen species of extinct birds, differing in size from the great Bustard to that of the Ostrich, and even much larger. These species have been referred to two distinct genera, the Dinornis proper, in which there is no impression for a hind toe on the tarso-metatarsal bones; and to the genus Palapteryx, in which the impression for the fourth toe has a similar position in the tarso-metatarsal bones as in the existing Apteryx. The general anatomical characters assigned by Professor Owen to the skull in this peculiar family of birds are "a broad and low supraoccipital region, sloping from below upwards; a flat parietal surface continued directly forwards into a broad downward sloping frontal region; wide and deep temporal fosse, small orbital cavities, and large olfactory chambers; the vertical plane of the foramen magnum, with the single occipital condyle projecting directly backwards. No existing bird,' he says, 'presents this peculiarity, which somewhat resembles that of Chelonian reptiles." " The large bones, which I shall now briefly describe, are nine in number, consisting of the greater portion of a cranium, one cervical, one dorsal, and nine anchylosed sacral vertebræ, a part of a rib, an ungual and a corresponding penultimate phalanx, a large elongated bone, which I assume to be a scapula, and an interesting little oval bone, doubtless a tracheal ring. The bones are of a The bones are of a yellowish cream colour, light and spongy from the loss of animal matter, but all in a good state of preservation. There are none of the mandibular or facial bones attached to the cranium, a part of the presphenoid, and the whole of the left postorbital process of the frontal bone is broken off, and there is likewise a slight exfoliation at the supraoccipital and paroccipital ridges, exposing the remarkably cancellous structure of the cranium. In the skull described by Professor Owen as typical of the genus Dinornis, and referred to D. casuarinus, it is stated, "that the cranial peculiarities of the great extinct wingless birds are exaggerated in the typical genus, especially the downward development and abrupt descent of the basioccipital and basisphenoid, and the forward inclination of the occipital surface, which makes the occipital condyle the centre of the hinder surface of the skull, and places the occipital foramen in the upper half. That the occipital condyle is supported on a short thick peduncle, and impressed by a subcentric pit, whilst the longest diameter of the foramen magnum is in the vertical direction." These characters do not correspond with the skull found in the limestone cave near Rotomarrama. The cranial peculiarities of the genus Palapteryx are said to be the minor development of the basioccipital and basisphenoid downwards in comparison with that in Dinornis proper; a higher position of the precondyloid foramina, and their separation from the carotid canals, the square platform of the basisphenoid, the less development of the paroccipitals, and great development of the mastoids and olfactory chambers, and especially in the large and single oblong depression. beneath the mastoid, for the single superior condyle of the tympanic bone." In his description of the skull of Palapteryx gerenoides, in the collection of Mr Mantell, Professor Owen says, "it agrees with those assigned to Palapteryx in all the characters by which they differ from the cranium assumed to belong to Dinornis proper." The general construction, measurements, and details of the skull of P. geranoides, agree in several particulars with the Rotomarrama cranium; and in the remarks which I have to ΤΟ make upon it, I shall adopt the comparisons made by Professor Owen on the typical skull of the genus Palapteryx. The breadth across the mastoid processes in the mutilated cranium from Rotomarrama is 27th inches; the length of the cranium, measured from the upper part of the foramen magnum to the anterior extremity of the frontal bone, is 3,3th inches; the breadth across the postorbital processes is 2 th inches; the breadth across the temporal fossa is 17ths of an inch. The vertical diameter, from the supraoccipital ridge to the basisphenoid, is 17ths of an inch. The transverse diameter of the occipital foramen is nearly ths of an inch. The breadth across the paroccipitals is 24 inches. The sutures of the skull are entirely obliterated; and from the well marked muscular impressions and rugose surface, there is no doubt that it belonged to an old bird. The occipital foramen is subcircular, and broadest transversely; the descending basioccipital is impressed by a shallow pit, divided by a slight median ridge, and bounded below by the straight posterior border of the basisphenoid platform, the outer angles of which are large round tuberosities. The precondyloid foramina are situated at the upper and back part of the basisphenoidal protuberances, midway between the outer edge of the paroccipital ridge and foramen magnum, and raised to a level with the lower border of the occipital condyle. The precondyloid foramina pass obliquely upwards and inwards into the cranium, and there are two small pits at the inner and upper edge, nearer the occipital condyle. The paroccipital ridges, partly broken in this specimen, are of a semilunar form, and separated by a notch from the basisphenoidal protuberances. The canal for the carotid artery is seen grooving the sides of the sphenoidal platform, winding round the outer part of the base of the sphenoidal protuberances, penetrating the basisphenoid, just in front of the lower edge of the paroccipital ridges, and entering the cranium by the aperture common to the precondyloid foramina internally. The occipital region is divided into two parts by a broad median vertical ridge, with two strongly marked depressions on each side; but the subdivision, "slightly indicated by the bending down of the supraoccipital ridge," in Professor Owen's description of P. gerenoides, is not |