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Art LII.—Notes on a Specimen of Euryapteryx from Southland.
[Read before the Otago Institute, 22nd November, 1897.]
In the study of the extinct birds of New Zealand there has been, of necessity, a great deal of speculative reconstruction in the description and definition of the species proposed at the present time. Taking the species found in both Islands of New Zealand, there are at least thirty nominal species, and these have been in many cases reduced from others. In only a few cases have species been described from fairly complete individual skeletons. It is only under exceptional circumstances that individual skeletons are found with all, or nearly all, the bones together and not mixed with those of other species.
In all the great deposits, such as Glenmark, Hamilton, Enfield, and Kapua, in the South Island, and Te Aute, in the North Island, it has been possible to reconstruct specimens that in all probability fairly represent the species they are assigned to, especially since the publication of the researches of the late Professor T. J. Parker on the skulls, the paper of Captain Hutton on the axial skeleton, and the catalogue of the moa-bones in the British Museum by Mr. Lydekker.
It is, however, specimens like the Tiger Hill specimen of Dinornis robustus, now in the York Museum; the two skeletons of the same species in the Otago University Museum; the specimen of D. maximus recently found at Invercargill; and what is known as the Stevenson moa, from the Waitaki, that give definite fixed results which may be taken as standards for those species.
It is when we are dealing with individual specimens of this kind that we feel that we are on firm ground, and consequently it gave me great pleasure to disinter, with the help of some lady friends, an entire skeleton* of Euryapteryx ponderosa (or Emeus, sp. 03B1, of Lydekker, British Museum Catalogue), from
[Footnote] * Wanting only a few small and unimportant bones.
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the sandy piece of country known as the Riverton Beach, a few miles south of Invercargill, close to where No. 1 skeleton of D. maximus was found by Mr. C. A. Ewen in 1895.* Only a portion of the pelvis was exposed, but by digging away the moist sand the majority of the bones were obtained, those missing being comparatively unimportant. The pelvis was slightly distorted by the pressure of the sand, having a slight twist to the right. The skull was in good condition; the upper maxilla was, however, separated from the calvarium, and one quadrate and the great part of the maxillo-jugal arch and the maxillo-palatines were destroyed in digging out the bones. Those on the lower side, being saturated with moisture, were easily damaged. The axis vertebra was with the skull, but was, unfortunately, lost in bringing the bones to Dunedin. There are also a few phalanges missing, and two ribs. The condition of the bones indicates that the specimen is that of a mature individual, and the general measurements of the bones and skull agree best with the described bones of Euryapteryx ponderosa of Captain Hutton's papers and the Emeus, sp. 03B1, of the British Museum Catalogue (Lydekker). The feet were somewhat disarranged, but, as far as I could make out, there were only four phalanges in the outer toe, in this respect agreeing with individual feet from Shag Point. Only one foot was sufficiently perfect to give any satisfactory indication on this point. No other bones were found within a chain of the spot, but there were numerous crop-stones and tracheal rings.
The specimen has now been mounted, and is deposited in the Otago University Museum.
Measurements.
Femur.—Length, 12.25 in. = 312 mm.; width at distal extremity, 5.1 in. = 130 mm.; circumference at middle of shaft, 6.6 in. = 168 mm.
Tibio-tarsus.—Length, 20 in. = 510 mm.; distal width, 3 ½ in. = 90 mm.
Tarso-metatarsal.—Length, 8.5 in. = 220 mm.; width at middle, 2.1 in. = 55 mm.; across distal trochlear, 4.6 in. = 118 mm.
Sternum.—Width below costal border, 6 in. = 152 mm.; length of body of sternum, 8.25 in. = 210 mm.
Pelvis.—Greatest length, 20 in. = 510 mm.; greatest width, 10 in. = 255 mm.
[Footnote] * Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxviii., p. 651.