2 6o Lloyd's natural history. 



were separated from the temporal fossae by a bony wall. The 

 lachrymal foramen was situated inside the margin of the orbit ; 

 the inner upper incisors were in contact in the middle line ; 

 the nasals were broad and concave in profile, while the facial 

 contour, viewed from the side, was very high. The pattern of 

 the molars closely agreed with that seen in the Guenons 

 {Cercopiihecidce). '' The nasals are broad," continues Dr. Major, 

 " and so is the whole of the interorbital region, its transversal 

 diameter almost equalling that of the orbits, and therefore 

 exceeding that obtained in the genera of Anthropoidea^ which 

 show the maximum of external extension of the region (Mycetes^ 

 Hylobates, Homo)." This is about the only point in which the 

 fossil approaches some of the Lemuroidea. The formula of its 

 upper teeth is I 2, C i, P 3, M 3 = i8, or that which has been 

 found heretofore to be characteristic of the New World monkeys. 

 "The three molars are each composed of four tubercles, the outer 

 and inner pairs being placed opposite one another and con- 

 nected together by transverse ridges. This is the pattern of 

 the Cercopithecid(z ; but, unlike the Old World monkeys, the 

 molars decrease in size from before backwards " {Major). In 

 the lower jaw the formula appears to have been I 2, C i, P 2, 

 M 3 = 16. Hence "whilst the dental formula of the upper 

 teeth agrees with that of the Cehidce^ it is quite peculiar in 

 the lower jaw, and whilst the pattern of the molars is that of 

 the CercopithecidcE, the premolars differ alike from Old and New 

 World monkeys. . . . These combined characters amply 

 justify the establishment of a separate family of Anihropoidea 

 for the Malagasy fossil, intermediate in some respects between 

 the South American Cebidce and the Old World Cercopithectdce^ 

 besides presenting characters of its own." Dr. Forsyth Major 

 has, therefore, proposed the new genus Nesopitheais for the 

 reception of this most remarkable monkey, under the new 

 family of Nesopithecidce. The discovery of Nesopithecus roberti^ 



