Sept., 1S93. ^HE FA UNA AND FLORA OF MADAGASCAR. 193 



species have recently been received in London, and will form the 

 subject of a paper by Dr. Forsyth Major. 



In June last, Dr. Major read before the Royal Society a paper on 

 an extinct Lemuroid from Ambolisatra, a slightly imperfect skull — 

 with a right and left mandibular ramus — of which has been sent to 

 this country by Mr. Rothschild's collector, Mr. Last. This skull, 

 belonging to an animal approximately three times the size of any 

 described Lemuroid, has been named Megaladapis madagascaviensis. It 

 is characterised by an enormous lateral development of the anterior 

 inter-orbital portion of the frontals ; a comparatively narrow and 

 elongated post-orbital frontal region, separated by a slight contraction 

 from the equally narrow parietal region ; a thick and flattened sagittal, 

 and an equally strongly developed occipital crest. The zygomatic 

 arch is high and projects moderately outwards. The general 

 appearance of the skull and teeth indicate an old individual. The 

 brain-case is comparatively small in size, and is viewed by Dr. Major 

 as a degenerate feature, and he anticipates that in young specimens 

 the cranium would be more rounded in the cerebral region, more 

 voluminous, and the facial portion much shortened. 



Evidence has also been forthcoming of the former existence of a 

 ruminant, but the remains are too imperfect to permit of identification. 

 The colossal hippopotamus and rhinoceros (six times the size of an 

 elephant) of M. Hamelin [Standard, 25 July) are imaginative, and 

 the reported destructive powers of the Cryptoproda, which attains a 

 size about equal to that of a lynx, is, we venture to think, somewhat 

 exaggerated. 



AvES. — Many remains of ^pyornis have been received during 

 recent months, some of which — sent to Mr. Rothschild, and exhibited 

 by him at the Zoological Society — far exceed in size any specimens 

 previously recorded. An egg of this bird was sold in a London sale- 

 room a few months ago in a perfect condition, realising the sum of 

 sixty-seven pounds, which may be considered as quite a fair price. 

 The most recent information on the genus will be found in Burck- 

 hardt's paper on some remains which have reached Berlin from 

 Sirabe, and here the pelvis, the upper portion of the metatarsus, and 

 the immature metatarsus have been made known for the first time. 

 A metatarsal of a large eagle has been found with the remains of 

 hippopotamus at Ambolisatra. 



Reptilia. — In the May number of the Geological Magazine, Mr. 

 R. B. Newton described and figured portions of a rostrum and mandible 

 of a crocodile from the Jurassic rocks of Andranosamonta. This fossil, 

 which was obtained by the Rev. R. Baron, has been named 

 Steneosaunis havoni. It was associated with moUusca, referable to 

 Mytilus (near M. iigrensis from Abyssinia), Modiola, Perna, and 

 Trochactcsonina ; and since the occurrence of this genus was, in our 

 imperfect knowledge, limited to European areas, the discovery is of 

 the highest importance in questions of geographical distribution. 



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