ii4 Lloyd's natural history. 



poraneous with the now vanished Dodo and the large flightless 

 Rail {Aphanapteryx)^ both of which were seen alive by Euro- 

 peans little more than two centuries ngo, and it is not improb- 

 able that Megaladapis may have been living in the Madagascar 

 forests at the same period. 



FAMILY LEMURID^ {tmtea, p. 22). 



In this family, and in its sub-family Le7nuri7ice (because of 

 its affinities with Hapalemiir)^ has to be included a large extinct 

 species from Nossi Vey, in North-west Madagascar. Its fossil 

 remains were recently described (P. Z. S., 1893^ p. 532), but 

 not named by Dr. Forsyth Major. They will prove, he believes, 

 when more fully known, to be the type of a new genus. At 

 present, however, owing to their incomplete state, it is not 

 possible to describe the species fully. " The Lemuroid nature 

 of the specimen is at once demonstrated by the great elevation 

 and downward bending of the post-orbital processes . . . 

 showing that ihe osseous ring of the orbit was complete. Un- 

 usual for a Lemuroid is the very strong post-orbital constriction 

 of the frontals, a character, however, seen in Adapts^ an Eocene 

 European form, and in Hapalemiir, With the latter it agrees 

 in the voluminous cranial and very short facial portion, and the 

 " cuttingly sharp " inferior margin of its post-orbital process. 

 Seen from the side, this fossil cranium is almost vertically 

 truncated behind, as in the skull of Alouatta. The region 

 between the eyes is vaulted by underlying air-chambers. 



FAMILY ANAPTOMORPHID^. 



This family includes certain fossil forms cf Lower Eocene 

 age from the phosphatic deposits of Quercy in France, the 



