Dr. P. L. Sclater on Animals from Madagascar. 295 



The eggs of Cuculus cineraceus are from 10 to 10| lines in length, 

 by 7 to 7| in breadth. The ground-colour is a delicate white, 

 spotted and dotted with wood-brown, deep brownish lilac, and fair 

 lilac dots, which appear beneath the surface. 



Some specimens are faintly sprinkled all over, and the dots have 

 a washed-out appearance ; others are marked more strongly, and in 

 these the markings formed are in a distinct zone at the larger end, 

 which is sometimes broken by a batch of very deep-coloured dots. 



I have seldom met with the eggs of this species in collections 

 (although sometimes I have seen those of Cuculus inornatus), whereas 

 the eggs of Chalcites lucidus are to be found in almost every col- 

 lection of eggs made in New South Wales. It is curious that one 

 variety of the egg of the Chalcites lucidus (var. A) should be so 

 different from the eggs of the species in the nests of which it is 

 placed, whereas both the other species here mentioned lay eggs very 

 similar to those of their foster-parents. 



June 13, 1865.— Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., in the Chair. 

 Report on a Collection of Animals from Madagascar, 



TRANSMITTED TO THE SoCIETY BY Mr. J. CaLDWELL. By 



P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S. 



Mr. J. Caldwell, of Port Louis, Mauritius, has recently transmitted 

 to me a small collection of animals in spirits, collected in Madagas- 

 car, in the vicinity of Antananarivo. The species represented in the 

 series are two Mammals, five Reptiles, and a Crayfish. 



The Mammals, which have been kindly determined for me by my 

 friend Dr. W. Peters, are of the following species : — 



1, Nyctinomus (Mormopterus*) jugularis, Peters, n. sp. 



N. supra fuscus, pilis basi alhis, subtus fusco-canus, alis nig vis ; 

 capite depresso, rostra lato ; auriculis triangularibus, sejunctis; 

 fovea jugulari magna. 



The only specimen of this very interesting species is a male, dis- 

 tinguished from all other species by a deep transverse fossa imme- 

 diately before the manubrium sterni. 



The head appears more flattened than in any other species, and 

 terminates with a broad flattened snout. The triangular Large ears 

 are, compared with those of other species, rather thin, not united, 

 but separated by an interspace of 4 millim. 



The fur is soft, of moderate length. The hair of the upper parts 

 is dark brown, at the base white ; that of the underside greyish. 



* Mormopterus, nov. subg. In the formula of the teeth (^ — -^ y j^' 

 when younger — ^ -^ ^^ i ~~^) ^* differs from Nyctinomus withy molars, and 

 approaches more to Molossus. The lips also are not so much plicated as in Nyc- 

 tinomus. It is a species intermediate between Nyctinomus and Molossus, thus 

 showing another instance of the relationship of the fauna of Madagascar to the 

 American fauna. 



