_Aepyornis Maximus_ Auct.
_Aepyornis grandidieri_ Rowley, P.Z.S. 1867, p. 892.
This is the form which nearly all the bones, referred erroneously to
Geoffroy's _Ae. maximus_, belong. The original description of Dawson Rowley
was founded on a piece of eggshell, and is as follows:--
"The granulation is in a marked degree different from that of the other
pieces. The air pores which in the other specimens appear like a comet with
a tail are here only small indentations without any tail; the shell also is
only half the thickness, is much finer, and presents an aspect so diverse
that the difference is detected by the most careless observer, even when
the pieces are all mixed. These fragments belonged to the egg of much
smaller birds, the embryo of which required less strength in the shell. Yet
the colour, quality and locality of that shell clearly point to a bird of
the same family as _Aepyornis maximus_--in short, a smaller and more
delicate _Aepyornis_. For this species I propose the name of _Aepyornis
grandidieri_."