152 MR. ST. GEORGE MIVART ON M1CRORHYNCHUS. [Mar. 13, 



In 1844 Professor Van der Hoeven published a representation of 

 the external form and of the skull*. 



A woodcut of a skull in the Museum of Leyden (probably the 

 same as that figured by Professor Van der Hoeven) appeared in Pro- 

 fessor Vrolik's article on the " Quadrumana " in Todd's ' Cyclopaedia 

 of Anatomy and Physiology' in 1852. 



M. Paul Gervais, in his ' Histoire Naturelle des Mammiferes,' 1854, 

 pi. 7, has given a representation of the external form ; and another 

 somewhat better one has appeared in Dr. Chenu's volume on Qua- 

 drumana in the Encyclopedic d' Histoire Naturelle, pi. 32. 



None of these, however, represent the animal quite satisfactorily, 

 though by far the best is the figure given by Prof. Van der Hoeven. 



This very rare mammal is at present represented in the British 

 Museum only by the skin of a young individual. In the Museum 

 at Paris, according to M. Isid. G. St.-Hilairef, there were two adult 

 males and one young male in 1851. 



In the Museum of Leyden there is a skin and a skull which afforded 

 Prof. Van der Hoeven the opportunity of giving the description in 

 the • Tijdschrift voor Natuurlijke geschiedenis,' above referred to, 

 where, at page 27, he says J, "The woolly Maki, or, as it has often 

 been called, the long-tailed Indri, had not been again seen since the 

 voyage of Sonnerat, who discovered it. Gmelin had given it a place 

 in the ' Systema Naturae' under the name of Lemur laniger ; but the 

 actual state of science required a more precise knowledge of the den- 

 tition in order to determine in which of the groups, into which zoo- 

 logists had divided the genus Lemur, the animal should be placed. 

 M. Jourdan, Director of the Museum of Natural History at Lyons, 

 received, in 1833, a skin and a skull of this animal, of which he gave 

 a, description, which was read at a Seance of the Academie Royale 

 des Sciences at Paris, but which was only made public by extracts 

 published in the scientific journals. He believes it should constitute 

 a new genus of the family of Lemurs, to which he gives the designa- 

 tion Avahi, that being the name given to the animal by the natives 

 inhabiting the eastern part of Madagascar. 



" For a few years past there has been a skin and a skull in the 

 Royal Museum of Leyden. 



" As regards the skull our figure § shows that it is short, and that 

 the lower jaw is remarkable for its height. The form of this lower 

 jaw recalls to mind, in certain respects, what one meets with in certain 

 South- American Monkeys (of the genus Stentor) ; and the skull in 

 •general has some resemblance to that of the Daman, that anomalous 

 genus of the Pachydermata to which Hermann has given the name 

 Hyrax. 



" The animal has the hair curly or woolly, greyish brown on the 

 back, greyish yellow near the tail ; the belly is grey ; the posterior 



* Tijdsehrift voor Natuurlijke geschiedenis, pi. 1. fig. 6, and pi. 3. 

 •t See Catalogue des Primates, p. 69. 



} I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Smit for a French translation of the 

 Thitch text. 



§ Plate 1. fig. 6. 



