Part 74

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

EMEUS GRAVIPES LYD.

Emeus gravipes Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Birds Brit. Mus., p. 298 (1891) Nos. A95, on p. 299, to 47444d, on p. 300.

Dinornis gravis (portion) Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. VIII, p. 361 (1872).

Euryapteryx gravis Haast, Ibis 1874, p. 213.

The present species is smaller than E. crassus and has the tarso-metatarsus relatively wider. Length, 198 mm. = 7.8 inches; width at middle of shaft, 51 mm. = 2 inches.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

EMEUS HAASTI NOM. NOV.

Emeus species , Parker, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII p. 379 (1895).

Emeus gravipes Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Birds Brit. Mus. p. 301 Nos. 32017, 32016, a-e and c to 32044 e on p. 307 (1891).

Sir J. von Haast united this form with Dinornis gravis, and the skull which is the type of E. haasti is put on a skeleton of D. gravis in the Canterbury Museum. The measurements of this species are much smaller than those of the other species.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand. {211}

EMEUS PARKERI NOM. NOV.

Emeus species [Gamma], Parker, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII, p. 380 (1895).

This species is at once distinguished from the other species of the genus by having right-angled orbits. The type is a skull from Hamilton Swamp, named Euryapteryx gravis, by Prof. Hutton, in the Otago Museum.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

EMEUS EXILIS (HUTT.)

Dinornis didiformis Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. III, pl. 24 (1846), part.

Euryapteryx exilis Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIX, p. 552, pl. XLVIII, Fig. C (1897).

Differs from E. crassus in the tibia being more convex on the anterior surface. The skull, among other differences, has a very slight frontal rising to the cranial roof, as opposed to the very conspicuous one in the remaining species. The type is a nearly complete skeleton in the Wanganui Museum. For full description see Hutton, l.c.

Habitat: North Island, New Zealand.

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PACHYORNIS LYDEKKER.

The skull is either vaulted or flattened, with a sharp and narrow beak. The paroccipital processes are shorter and more rounded, and the basi-occipital tubercles more prominent than in Anomalopteryx, while the quadrate and mandible resemble the same bones in that genus somewhat closely. The sternum is flat and very broad and short, with no coracoidal facets, a very small xiphisternal notch, broad and short costal processes, and widely divergent lateral processes; while there are only two costal articulations. The pelvis is extremely low and wide, with the anterior wall of the acetabulum very deeply concave, the ventral surface of all the vertebrae behind the true sacrals narrow and convex, and from which the very broad sacral ribs ascend to join the ilium, of which the inferior postacetabular border is very sharp, and descends far below the level of the ribs. There is no pectineal process to the pubis. The tibio-tarsus is very short, with the shaft curved outwards, the distal extremity markedly inflected, and the fibular ridge much shorter than in the other genera. The fibular border below the smooth space at the distal extremity of the fibular ridge is extremely rough; and the distal extensor tubercle is very prominent, being situated partly on the line of the upper half of the extensor groove, instead of being altogether external to the same.

The tarso-metatarsus is still shorter and wider than in Emeus, the width at the middle of the shaft being usually rather more than one third of the length. The third trochlea is more prominent than in the other genera, and rises very abruptly from the shaft, the outer border of the anterior surface usually expanding suddenly at the proximal extremity, and the outer ridge of this surface being always more prominent than the inner, whereas in the other genera the opposite condition obtains. The femur, as compared with that of Dinornis, is very much shorter and thicker, with a longer neck, and the head rising and projecting very considerably, the linea aspera mainly forming a rough nodule near the distal end of the shaft, the outer surface of the distal extremity more suddenly expanded, and the popliteal depression larger, more open, and leading to the inner surface of the shaft by a more distinct channel. The profile of the inner condyle is wider antero-posteriorly, and more rounded, the anterior intertrochlear surface being deeply channelled.

The phalangeals of the pes are much shorter and stouter than in Dinornis, the proximal surface of the terminal segments generally presenting a trefoil-shaped contour. The length of the tarso-metatarsus is very much {214} less than half that of the tibio-tarsus. In the vertebral column the cervicals are short with very stout centra, the prezygopophyses in the middle region being nearly horizontal and separated from one another by a wide channel. The posterior face of the centra is tall and narrow, and the neural spines of the last two vertebrae much inclined forward. In the dorsals there is usually no anterior pneumatic foramen till the fourth (or the last with a distinct haemal carina), this foramen being situated on the line of the anterior border of the rib-facet. The third and fourth dorsals are extremely compressed. Throughout the series also the neural spines and transverse processes are comparatively long. Additional characters of the skull are that the sphenoidal rostrum is expanded in a lance-like shape at the anterior extremity, in a manner unlike that of any of the other genera.

Then the supraoccipital never has a very strongly developed median prominence, and the temporal fossae are comparatively short. The mandible may be readily distinguished from that of the other genera by the low position of the inner aperture of the dental canal, which pierces the bone obliquely to join the small lateral vacuity.

Type of the genus: Pachyornis elephantopus (Owen).