Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 1892. I.—Zoology.

Art. I.—On the Classification and Mutual Relations of the Dinornithidæ. By Professor T. Jeffery Parker, F.R.S. [Read before the Otago Institute, 10th May, 1892.] A Detailed study of the skull of the moas has led me to adopt views as to the classification and mutual relationships of these birds which do not agree with those expressed by Professsor Hutton in his recent admirable paper.* “The Moas of New Zealand,” Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxiv. (1891), p. 93. The full account of my observations will be published elsewhere, but a brief account of the conclusions at which I have arrived may be of interest. Hutton is probably right in assigning the broad-beaked skull usually assigned to the species crassus to elephantopus; in considering parvus as a variety of didiformis; and probably also in assigning the large, narrow-beaked skull, usually called elephantopus, to crassus. On the other hand, I consider didinus to be merely a small variety of casuarinus. Assuming these determinations to be correct, I admit the following genera:— 1. Dinornis, including the species giganteus, maximus, ingens, &c. 2. Emeus, including the species crassus. 3. Mesopteryx, including the species casuarina, and probably geranoides.