Dinornis (5 sp.); Meionornis (2 sp.).
These had no hind toe, and include the largest species. Professor Newton thinks that they were absolutely wingless, being the only birds in which the fore limbs are entirely wanting.
Family 130.—PALAPTERYGIDÆ. (2 Genera, 4 Species.)
Palapteryx (2 sp.); Euryapteryx (2 sp.).
These had a well-developed hind toe, and rudimentary wings.
Family 131.—ÆPYORNITHIDÆ. (1 Genus, 3 Species.)
A gigantic Struthious bird (Æpyornis), belonging to a distinct family, inhabited Madagascar.
It was first made known by its enormous eggs, eight times the bulk of those of the ostrich, which were found in a sub-fossil condition. Considerable portions of skeletons have since been discovered, showing that these huge birds formed an altogether peculiar family of the order.
General Remarks on the Distribution of the Struthiones.
With the exception of the Ostrich, which has spread northward into the Palæarctic region, the Struthious birds, living and extinct, are confined to the Southern hemisphere, each continent having its peculiar forms. It is a remarkable fact that the two most nearly allied genera, Struthio and Rhea, should be found in Africa and South Temperate America respectively. Equally remarkable is the development of these large forms of wingless birds in Australia and the adjacent islands, and especially in New Zealand, where we have evidence which renders it probable that about 20 species recently coexisted. This points to the conclusion that New Zealand must, not long since, have formed a much more extensive land, and that the diminution of its area by subsidence has been one of the causes—and perhaps the main one—in bringing about the extinction of many of the larger species of these wingless birds.