Читать книгу Remarks on some fossil impressions in the sandstone rocks of Connecticut River - John Collins Warren - Страница 2

In the course of the year 1851, an account was circulated of the discovery of an immense egg, or eggs, in the Island of Madagascar. The size of the eggs spoken of was so disproportionate to that of any previously known, that most persons received the account with incredulity; and, I must confess, I was one of this number. Being in Paris soon after hearing of this report, I made inquiry on the subject, and was surprised to learn, that the great egg was actually existing in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. In a few days I had an opportunity of seeing a cast of it in the hands of the artist, M. Strahl, of whom I solicited one. He informed me that it could not be obtained at that moment; but that, if my request were made known to the Administration of the Museum, he had no doubt they would accede to it. I accordingly did apply, and also presented them with the cast of a perfect head of Mastodon Giganteus; and they very liberally granted my request.

The distinguished naturalist, Professor Geoffroy St. Hilaire, the second of that honorable name, has made a statement to the Academy of Sciences, which, though only initiatory, contains many facts of a very interesting nature, some of which I have had an opportunity of verifying; and to him we are indebted for a greater part of the others.

The eggs sent to me are, in number, two; one of which was purchased by M. Abadie, captain of a French vessel, from the natives. Another was soon afterwards found, equal in size. A third egg was discovered in an alluvial stratum near a stream of water, together with other valuable relics of the animal which had probably produced them; but, unfortunately, it was broken during transportation. Of the two eggs, one is of an ovoid form, having much the shape of a hen's egg; and the other is an ellipsoid.

The ovoid egg is of enormous size, even when compared with the largest egg we are acquainted with. Its long diameter exceeds thirteen inches of our English measure, its short diameter eight, and its long circumference thirty-three inches. Its capacity is thought to be equal to eighteen liquid pints, or to be six times greater than that of the largest egg known to us (the ostrich), although but twice its length. It is said to be equal to a hundred and forty-eight hen eggs. The ellipsoid egg has its longest diameter somewhat less than that of the ovoid; its short diameter nearly equals that of the other egg, being more than eight inches. The third egg, although broken, has been very useful to science, by displaying the thickness of the shell, which is about one-tenth of an inch.

The bones, of which I have received the casts, are three in number, and of great interest. One of them is a characteristic fragment of the upper part of a fibula; the other two, still more interesting, as enabling us to determine the class and genus of the animal to which they belong, exhibit the extremities of the right and left tarso-metatarsal bones. The former is somewhat broken; the latter is nearly perfect, and exhibits the triple division of the inferior extremity of the bone into the three trochleæ or pulley-shaped processes of the struthious birds. It might be mistaken for a bone of the great Dinornis, but is distinguished from this by the flatness of the portion above the trochleæ. Still less is it one of the bones of the ostrich, its three pulleys being separated from each other by distinct intervals; whereas the pulleys of the ostrich have only one such separation, constituting two distinct eminences.

M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire considered himself justified, from these and other facts, in deciding this bone to belong to a bird of a new genus, to which he gives the name of Epyornis, from αἰπύς, high, tall, and ὄρνις, bird; and, as probably it is a specimen of the largest animal of the family, he affixes the specific name of maximus.

The size of this bird, inferred from that of its egg, would be vastly superior to that of the ostrich. But if we notice the comparative size of the trochleated extremity of the tarso-metatarsal bone, we shall see that its height would be greatly exaggerated by adopting such a basis for its establishment; in fact, it would not probably exceed a height double that of the ostrich. And, though it must have been superior to that of the Dinornis maximus of Prof. Owen, it might perhaps excel it only by the difference of two or three feet. A bird of twelve or thirteen feet in height would, however, if we stood in its presence, appear enormous, and must have greatly astonished and terrified the natives of Madagascar. Whether it now exists is uncertain, as it may possibly have a habitation in the wild recesses of the island, which have never yet been visited by any European traveller.

The credit of most of the observations and discoveries relating to this remarkable bird is attributable to French naturalists;1 and it seems to be a duty devolving on English and American navigators to complete the history thus happily begun, and to tell us whether the Epyornis still exists in the mountain-forests of Madagascar, or at least present us with its extraordinary relics.