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searches. The bottom of a second cave, the
Stafford's cave, was turned up, and the bottom
of a third one, the Moa Cave. The excite-
ment of the moa-diggers was great, and in-
creased; for the deeper they went below the
stalagmite crusts covering the floor, the larger
were the bones they found, and whole legs,
from the hip-bone to the claws of the toes,
were exposed. They dug and washed three
days and three nights, and on the fourth day
they returned in triumph to Collingwood, fol-
lowed by two pack-bullocks loaded with moa
bones.

I must confess that not only was it a cause
of great excitement to the people of Colling-
wood, but also to myself, as the gigantic bones
were laid before our view. A Maori bringing
me two living kiwis from Rocky river, gave us
an opportunity to compare the remains of the
extinct species of the family with the living
Apteryx.

It gives me much pleasure to acknowledge
the zeal and exertions of my countryman
and friend, Haast, in adding such valuable
specimens to the collections of the Novara ex-
pedition. The observations of M. Haast, made
during this search, throw a new light upon this
great family of extinct birds. He found that,
according to the depth so was the size of the
remains, thus proving that the greater the
antiquity the larger the species. The bones of
Dinornis crassus and Palapteryx ingens (a
bird standing the height of nine feet) were
always found at a lower level than the bones
of Dinornis didiformis (Owen), of only four
feet high.

I have the pleasure of showing you, here, a
leg of Dinornis crassus.*

I have since had my collection of bones in-
creased by various contributions from Messrs.
Wells, Haycock, and Ogg, and a nearly perfect
skeleton of Palapteryx ingens presented by the
Nelson Museum to the Imperial Geological
Institution of Vienna.

These gigantic birds belong to an era prior
to the human race, to a post-tertiary period.
And it is a remarkably incomprehensible fact
of the creation, that whilst at the very same
period in the old world, elephants, rhinoceroses,
hippopotami; in South America, gigantic
sloths and armadillos; in Australia, gigantic
kangaroos, wombats, and dasyures were living;
the colossal forms of animal life were repre-
sented in New Zealand by gigantic birds, who
walked the shores then untrod by the foot of
any quadruped.

A characteristic of the tertiary formation of
the Takaka Valley is large masses of fos-
siliferous limestone, beginning at the Tata
Islands, and extending far up the valley.
Under the limestone lies the Motupipi brown
coal formation, which can be traced up the
valley as far as Mr. Skeet's. I am indebted
to Mr. James Burnett for carefully drawn and
instructive plans and sections of the Motupipi
working, which at once placed before me the
character of the coal-field and the succession
of the strata.† I need not here repeat what I
have so recently said at Auckland with regard
to the quality and economical uses of this coal.

† SECTION OF STRATA AT MOTUPIPI, MASSABRE BAY.
No. 1 SHAFT.

SECTION OF STRATA AT MOTUPIPI, MASSABRE BAY.
No. 2 SHAFT.

This shaft was abandoned on account of the large
quantity of water; had this not taken place, it was
intended to sink to a seam known to exist about low-
water mark.

JAMES BURNETT.