ii2 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



to be mentioned belongs to a family which has now no living 

 representatives. 



FAMILY MEGALADAPID^E. 



This family has recently been established by Dr. Forsyth 

 Major, for a fossil species represented by the greater portion 

 of a large cranium and part of its lower jaw, found in a marsh 

 at Amboulisatra, on the south-west coast of Madagascar. This 

 species is the only representative of the single genus of the 

 family. 



GENUS MEGALADAPIS. 



Megaladapis, Forsyth Major, Phil. Trans., vol. 185 B, p. 15 

 (1894). 



The cranium, about 10 inches long, indicates an aged animal 

 three or four times as long as the common Cat, which is an 

 enormous size as compared with any living Lemur. Brain-case 

 straight, narrow, short, low, and situated at a higher level than 

 the facial region ; an enormous lateral development of the 

 region between the eyes ; orbits small in diameter, communi- 

 cating freely with the temporal fossa, protruding outwards and 

 forwards, and surrounded by a thickened ring ; facial region 

 elongate and bent upward ; palate convex downwards from 

 front to back ; ridges for attachment of the temporal muscles 

 uniting in a great central crest; frontal bones constricted behind 

 the orbits ; maxillary bones behind the molar teeth greatly 

 inflated by air-cavities; the two halves of the lower jaw ossified 

 together. In the upper jaw the pre-molars have one outer and 

 one inner cusp, and the molars one internal and two external 

 cusps, the former being deeply separated from the hind outer 

 cusp, and joined by a ridge to the front outer cusp. In the lower 



