A Pictorial Atlas of Fossil Remains, consisting of coloured illustrations selected from Parkinson's "Organic remains of a former world," and Artis's "Antediluvian phytology."

by Gideon Algernon Mantell

[91] I must refer for details to the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, No. XV. August 1848.

It would extend this article far beyond the limits assigned to this work, were I to attempt even a cursory account of all the facts and inferences connected with these discoveries. The anatomical and physiological characters of many species and genera will be found in the admirable Memoirs on the Dinornis, Palapteryx, Notornis, &c. by Prof. Owen, in the Transactions of the Zoological Society.[92]

[92] I regret to state that the egg-shells, and many highly interesting bones, belonging to unknown genera of birds, from Rangatapu or Waingongoro, in my son's first collection, remain undescribed. My notes and observations on the geological position of the ossiferous deposits of the North Island of New Zealand, derived from the sketches and letters of Mr. Walter Mantell, are published in the Geological Journal; those on his collection of fossils from the Middle Island will appear in the same publication in the course of the present year (1850).

From the facts at present known as to the position of the ossiferous deposits of New Zealand, there is reason to conclude that they bear the same relation to the present state of the country, as the alluvial loam and clay containing the bones of mammoths, Irish Elks, &c. to that of Great Britain. I think we may safely infer that at a period geologically recent, but historically very remote, those islands were densely peopled by tribes of ostrich-like birds of species and genera which have long since become extinct; that many species existed contemporary with the Maories or native human inhabitants, and that the last of the family were exterminated, like the Irish Elk, and the Dodo, by man. If, as the natives affirm, some of the race still exist in the unfrequented parts of the country, they are probably diminutive species, like the Apteryx or Kivi-Kivi, which is the only living representative known to naturalists, of this once numerous tribe of colossal Struthionidæ. The only fossil osseous remains from New Zealand not referable to birds are bones of two species of Seals, and one femur and a few other bones of a Dog. Associated with the relics of the Dinornis and other extinct genera, and unquestionably coeval with them, are crania, mandibles, and other bones, of the living species of Apteryx, Albatross, Penguin, Notornis, Nestor, Water-hen, &c.

The fragments of egg-shells of Dinornis, from Rangatapu, belong to three distinct types, each of very large size; my son, to convey an idea of the magnitude of one egg, of which he dug up a large portion, says, "a gentleman's hat would make a capital egg-cup for it." The markings on the surface of the shells bear a greater resemblance to those on the eggs of the Rhea and Cassowary than of the Ostrich.

A remarkable fact mentioned by my son throws some light as to the comparatively recent extirpation of the Moa. In one spot the natives pointed out some little mounds covered with herbage, as consisting of heaps of ashes and bones, the refuse of the fires and feasts left by their remote ancestors. Upon digging into them, a quantity of burnt bones was discovered: these belonged to Man, Moa, and Dog, and were promiscuously intermingled. These calcined bones present no traces whatever either of the earthy powder or manaccanite sand which the cells and pores of the fossil bones invariably contain. If, as the natives affirm, these are the rejectamenta of the feasts of the aborigines, the practice of cannibalism by the New Zealanders must have been of very ancient date, and could not have originated, as Professor Owen supposed, from the want of animal food in consequence of the extirpation of the colossal birds. (See ante, p. xi.)

[IV.] Botanical arrangement of Fossil Vegetables.—Mr. Artis, in the Introduction of his work, offers some judicious observations as to the proper method in which the study of Fossil Botany should be pursued. He remarks, "that from the imperfect state in which fossil vegetables are generally found, the ordinary characters by which recent plants are referred to their congeners, can scarcely ever be detected in them. The sexual organs on which the systems of Linnæus and Jussieu are founded, and even the integuments of those organs while in the state of flowering, have uniformly perished. The external parts of the seed or fruit exist, indeed, in a fossil state, but they are almost always insulated from the other organs. If leaves are found, it is almost certain that scarcely any portion of the stem will be attached to them; if the external parts of a trunk, then very rarely any vestiges of the branches and foliage. And when traces of the internal structure can be discovered, it is seldom that the external character of the stem remains.

"In consequence of this deficiency of the essential characters on which the determinations of the botanist are founded, there exists a necessity for examining more minutely and accurately than has yet been done, the internal structure of recent plants; their habits of growth, the cicatrices or scars left on the stem by the leaves that are spontaneously shed, the different appearances which their fruits exhibit in their various stages of development—all these points must be minutely studied before we can obtain any certainty as to the identity of fossil and living species of plants.

"It is not by publishing detached and unconnected delineations and descriptions of fossil plants, as they occasionally occur, that the knowledge of them can be considerably promoted. A systematic arrangement must be formed; and the first step to this is the accurate determination of the species. Hoc opus, hic labor est."