Extinct Birds Part 49

Type of genus: _Emeus cra.s.sus_ (Owen).

Number of species: 6.

EMEUS CRa.s.sUS (OWEN).

_Dinornis cra.s.sus_ Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. III, p. 307 (1846--partim).

_Emeus cra.s.sus_ Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. der Vog., p. x.x.x (1850).

_Syornis cra.s.sus_ Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 132 (1892).

This species has led to much confusion, owing to Professor Owen having a.s.sociated with the real portions of _cra.s.sus_ in his possession bones of _elephantopus_, _ponderosus_ and _struthioides_. The type came from Waikouaiti.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

Imperfect skeleton in Tring Museum. {210}

EMEUS BOOTHI NOM. NOV.

_Emeus_, Species [Alpha], Parker, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII, p. 379 (1895), pl. XVI.

Easily distinguished by the shorter and narrower beak. Type specimen--the skull found by Mr. R. S. Booth at Stag Point--now in Otago University Museum, figured as above.

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. cra.s.sus_ 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 [Beta], 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. cra.s.sus_ 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 w.a.n.ganui Museum. For full description see Hutton, l.c.

Habitat: North Island, New Zealand.

{213}

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 s.p.a.ce 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 ca.n.a.l, which pierces the bone obliquely to join the small lateral vacuity.

Type of the genus: _Pachyornis elephantopus_ (Owen).

Number of species: 8.