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Read Ebook: As It Was in the Beginning by Mighels Philip Verrill
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Ebook has 863 lines and 56729 words, and 18 pages
PAGE Preface v
Description of the Frontispiece x
Introduction 13
Descriptions of the Plates.
FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
Plate
FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
XL.--Various fossil Zoophytes 99
L.--Chiefly specimens of the Pear Encrinite of Bradford, in Wiltshire 119
Frontispiece.--Foot of the Moa of New Zealand.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.
WORKS REFERRED TO IN THE DESCRIPTIONS.
Michelin, Iconographie Zoophytologie, Paris, 4to.
G?ppert, H. R. Die Fossilen, Farrnkrauter,--forming vol. xvii. of the Nova Acta Academiae C. L. C. Naturae Curiosorum. 1836, 4to.
Goldfuss, Dr. A., Petrefacta Germaniae, folio, Dusseldorf, 1841-44.
Fossil Flora of Great Britain, by Dr. Lindley and Mr. Button.
Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Essay on Geology and Mineralogy, 2 vols, with numerous Plates.
The Wonders of Geology, 3 vols, sixth edition, 1849.
The Medals of Creation, 2 vols. 1844.
Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight and along the adjacent Coast of Dorsetshire, 1 vol. numerous Plates.
Thoughts on Animalcules, 1 vol. numerous coloured Plates, second edition, 1850.
Lyell, Sir Charles, Travels in. America, 1845, and 1849.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTISPIECE.
THE MOA OF NEW ZEALAND.
The Frontispiece represents the entire series of bones composing the right foot of the Moa , found imbedded in an erect position, with the corresponding foot a yard in advance, in a turbary deposit, at Waikouaiti, in the Middle Island of New Zealand, in 1849. The figures are one-third less in linear dimensions than the originals.
The ancient swamp or morass in which these matchless specimens were imbedded, is situated on the shore, in a little creek or bay near Island Point, at the mouth of the river Waikouaiti, and is covered by the sea except at the lowest tides. Many remains of the largest species of Moa have from time to time been obtained from this deposit; the bones sent to England by Dr. Mackellar, Mr. Percy Earle, and others, figured and described in the Zoological Transactions by Professor Owen, were from this locality.
The specimens figured were obtained by Mr. Walter Mantell, in 1849, when visiting Waikouaiti, as Government Commissioner for the settlement of Native claims. On the recession of the tide, the upper ends of the metatarsals were just visible above the surface: these were carefully dug up, and all the bones of the respective toes numbered, one by one, as they were extracted from the soil. In this state they were sent to me, and have subsequently been articulated under my direction, in their natural order of arrangement.
The condition and position of the bones, and the nature of the deposit,--evidently an ancient morass, in which the New Zealand flax once grew luxuriantly,--remind us of the very similar circumstances in which the extinct gigantic Elks in Ireland, and the Mastodons in America, have occasionally been found engulfed in peat bogs and morasses; and, as my son emphatically observes, it is impossible to arrive at any other conclusion than that the Moa to which these feet belonged, had sunk down in the swamp, and perished on the spot. Vertebrae and other parts of a skeleton of a bird of the same proportions, were dug up near the feet.
As the specimens under examination are the first examples in which the entire series of the phalangeal and ungueal bones have been found in natural connexion with the metatarsals, I subjoin the admeasurements of the several parts, to render the peculiar construction of the feet in one species of the lost race of the colossal birds of New Zealand, more obvious to those who may feel interested in the subject.
TARSO-METATARSAL BONES.
Inches. Lines.
Length of the shaft from the distal end of the middle trochlea to the proximal extremity 17 0
Circumference of the proximal end 11 9
Transverse diameter, or width, of ditto 4 6
Antero-posterior diameter of ditto 3 6
Circumference of the middle of the shaft 6 3
Antero-posterior diameter of ditto 1 8
Transverse diameter of ditto 3 6
Width of the distal, or trochlear, end 6 3
Circumference of the trochlear end 15 6
Antero-posterior diameter of the middle trochlea 3 9
PHALANGEAL BONES.
Inner Toe. Middle Toe. Outer Toe. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines.
First, or proximal phalanx -- 1 9 -- 1 0 -- 4 6 -- 4 6
Third phalangeal bone Ungueal. -- 0 11 -- 4 0
The third number contains the following additional genera:--
The genera thus successively established, may be arranged in the following order:--
STEMS.
FOLIAGE.
This genus is subdivided into four sections, as follow:--
These are divided Into five sub-genera:--
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