ET2 ALLEN’S NATURALIST’S LIBRARY. 
to be mentioned belongs to a family which has now no living 
representatives. 
FAMILY MEGALADAPID A, 
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. 
Mevaladapis, Forsyth Major, Phil. Trans., vol. 185 B, p. 15 
(1894). 
The cranium, about ro 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 
ne oad 
