AEPYORNIS, a genus of large extinct flightless birds, com prising the family Aepyornithidae and the order Aepyomithi f ormes of the Palaeognathidae ; they resembled the moas (q.v.) in many particulars, and inhabited Madagascar up to, possibly, 200 years ago. They are said to have been the origin of the legend of the roc. Ae. titan reached a height of 'oft., and the egg was larger than that of any other bird. (See ORNITHOLOGY.)