172 Miscellaneous. 



the different varieties and sub varieties, especially P.gallicus, higlumis, 

 and Oeoffroyij with all the passages from one to the other. 



4. Among the numerous individuals of P. hiylumis that I have 

 captured or bred from nests, I have never been able to find a female. 

 The females revert more or less to the characters of P. gallicus, or 

 are replaced by the female of the latter. 



5. Nor does the male of P. higlumis exist ; it always, more or less, 

 presents the characters of P. gallicus. 



0. From this it follows that P. higlumis, according to the most 

 accurate observation made upon large series and numerous nests, is 

 only a peculiar modification, a variety, of P. gallicus. 



IV. Observations upon the exotic species of Polistes lead to per- 

 fectly analogous conclusions. 



V. To sum up, the exact and serial observation of the genus 

 Polistes serves marvellously to prove that the mutability of the spe- 

 cies, in zoology, although very great as to its varieties, does not 

 extend beyond these, and does not attain to the production of spe- 

 cific types when these are well defined and correctly established. — 

 Comptes Rendus, July 13, 1868, pp. 75-77. 



On a new Species of Chirogalus from the West Coast of Madagascar. 



By M. A. Grandidier. 



Chirogalus Samati (nob.). Obscure fusco-griseus, subtus fulvescens. 



Cauda crassa, obsolete nifescente ; fascia alba a fronte media ad 



nasi apicem decurrente ; oculis nigro circumdatis ; auriculis paulo 



longioribus quam Chirogali Milii. 

 Long, ab apice nasi ad caudse basin 19 centim. ; caudae 17 centim. 

 Habitat flumen Tsidsibon, in littore occidentali Madagascar insulae. 



This Chirogalus is specially remarkable by its head, which resem- 

 bles that of a young cat, and by the size of its tail, which is 6 centi- 

 metres in circumference ; it owes this size, which is abnormal in the 

 Lemurids, to the presence of a thick layer of fat, similar to M'hat 

 occurs round the tails of the Cape sheep. 



The hair of the body, as well as that of the tail, is rather short. 

 It is known to the natives by the name of Keli-be-houi'. 



I have named this animal after M. E. Samat, who has resided for 

 the last twenty- two years on the west coast of Madagascar, and 

 from whom I have received great kindness during my stay in these 

 inhospitable regions. To him I owe my acquaintance with this 

 curious Lemurid and the two specimens which I have forwarded to 

 the Paris Museum. 



I avail myself of this occasion to make known a curious fact 

 which the beautiful collections recently brought from the north- 

 west coast of Madagascar by the skilful keeper of the Musee de 

 Bourbon, M. Lantz, have enabled me to verify, viz. that Berniera 

 major and Berniera minor are but one species : B. major is the 

 male, B. minor the female. M. Lantz has taken some fifteen of each 

 animal in the same locality, and ascertained that they lived together. 

 -Saint-Denis, He de Reunion, Dec. 18, 1867. 



Ann. des Sciences Nat. viii. p. 294. 



