Читать книгу A Pictorial Atlas of Fossil Remains - Gideon Algernon Mantell - Страница 3
ОглавлениеPREFACE.
In the hope of promoting the diffusion of a taste for the cultivation of a peculiarly interesting and attractive branch of Natural History, I have been induced, in compliance with the suggestion of the eminent publisher of this volume, to arrange in a connected series the Plates of the late Mr. Parkinson's "Organic Remains of a Former World," and of Mr. Artis's "Antediluvian Phytology," with descriptions of the specimens represented.
As I have been enabled, with the valuable assistance of my friend, John Morris, Esq. F.G.S., the author of "A Catalogue of British Fossils," to append, in almost every instance, the generic and specific names adopted by the most recent authorities, the volume will, I trust, not only prove interesting to the general reader, as a beautiful Pictorial Atlas of some of the most remarkable relics of the animals and plants of a "Former World," but also constitute a valuable book of reference in the library of the Geologist and Palæontologist, since it contains the names and localities of no inconsiderable number of species and genera.
For the guidance of the unscientific reader who may desire further information on any of the subjects treated of in the following pages, references are given to a few general works on Geology and Fossil Remains.
Chester Square, Pimlico,
August 1850.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTISPIECE.
THE MOA OF NEW ZEALAND.
The Frontispiece represents the entire series of bones composing the right foot of the Moa (Dinornis robustus), 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.
Figures 1a, 2a, 3a, show the palmar, or under surface of the respective toes, and exhibit the trochlear or articulating extremities of the phalangeal bones.
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 (or proximal) 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.[1]
[1] By the well-known eminent anatomical artist, Mr. Flower, of 22, Lambeth Terrace, Lambeth Road.
The condition and position of the bones, and the nature of the deposit,—evidently an ancient morass, in which the New Zealand flax (phormium tenax) 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. Vertebræ 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. (Fig. 1.) | Middle Toe. (Fig. 2.) | Outer Toe. (Fig. 3.) | ||||||||
| Inches. | Lines. | Inches. | Lines. | Inches. | Lines. | |||||
| First, or proximal phalanx | { | Length | 4 | 9 | — | 4 | 3 | — | 3 | 2 |
| Circumference of proximal end | 6 | 6 | — | 6 | 9 | — | 5 | 9 | ||
| Second phalangeal bone. | { | Length | 1 | 9 | — | 2 | 6 | — | 1 | 9 |
| Circumference of proximal end | 3 | 0 | — | 5 | 3 | — | 4 | 9 | ||
| Third phalangeal bone | { | Length | Ungueal.{30}40 | — | 1 | 9 | — | 1 | 0 | |
| Circumference of proximal end | — | 4 | 6 | — | 4 | 6 | ||||
| Third phalangeal bone | { | Length | Ungueal.{30}42 | — | 0 | 11 | ||||
| Circumference of proximal end | — | 4 | 0 | |||||||
| Fifth ungueal bone | { | Length | 2 | 6 | ||||||
| Circumference of proximal end | 3 | 9 |
The total length of the toes is as follows:—inner digit, 9½ inch.; middle, 11½ inch.; outer, 91/3 inch. The transverse diameter of the expanse of the foot, from the distal extremity of the inner toe (fig. 1a), to that of the outer one (fig. 3a), is 15½ inches. The length from the posterior part of the trochlear extremity of the metatarsal to the distal end of the ungueal of the middle toe (fig. 2a), is 13 inches. If to the actual dimensions of the bones be added the proportional thickness of the cartilaginous integuments, nails, &c., the length of the foot of the living bird may be estimated at about 16 inches, and the breadth at 17 or 18 inches.
From the great width and solidity of the metatarsals, and the form and corresponding size and strength of the phalangeals and ungueals, the ornithologist will perceive that the feet of the Moa must have constituted powerful instruments for scratching, digging, and uprooting the sub-terrestrial vegetable substances, which Professor Owen, with great probability, infers, formed the chief sustenance of the extinct colossal birds of New Zealand.
According to the relative proportions of the bones composing the hinder extremities of the gigantic species of Moa, the corresponding tibia, or leg-bone, of the feet above described, would be two feet nine inches in length, and the femur, or thigh bone, nine and a half inches; the total height of the bird was probably about ten feet.
Tibiæ, femora, and other bones of much larger proportions, (apparently of Dinornis giganteus and D. ingens,) were obtained from the same locality; some of these indicate birds of eleven or twelve feet in height; dimensions exceeding by one-third those of the largest known existing species of Struthionidæ—the Ostrich.[2]
