1890.] ON SOME LARGE EXTINCT BIRDS FROM MALTA. 403 



I may further add, from my own knowledge of the caves in Mau- 

 ritius I think it very unlikely that any animal remains so recent as 

 those of the Dodo or its contemporaries will be found in them, as in 

 the rainy season they are generally flooded by roaring torrents, which 

 would at once wash away modern deposits. 



2. On a new Toucan of the Genus Pteroglossus. 

 By P. L. ScLATER, M.A., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society. 



[Eeceived April 24, 1890.] 



A single skin in the British Museum, formerly in the Salvin- 

 Godman Collection, seems to indicate the existence in Upper Ama- 

 zonia of a new species of Toucan allied to P. virUlis. 



This I propose to call 



Pteroglossus didymus, sp. nov. 



Supra obscure viridis, alis caudaque nigricantibus viridi limbatis ; 

 capite nigra; uropygio coccineo: infra limonaceo-flavus in ventre 

 medio brunnescente adumbratus ; (jatture et colli lateribus nigris ; 

 tibiis brunneis ; rostri mandibula superior e flavida, hvjus culmine 

 et ipsa apice nigris ; inferiore nigra, ad basin margine flavicante 

 ornata : long, tola 14-.'), alee 4-6, caudce 5-6, rostri, a rictu ad 

 apicem linea directa, 3'3. 

 Hab. Amazonia superior. 



Obs. Proximus P. viridi, sed rostri culmine nigri, et tibiis brun- 

 neis distinetus. 



The typical specimen hears one of Hauxwell's well-known |)aper 

 labels marked : — " Male, iris red. Skin round the eye indigo-blue, 

 with a red patch behind eyes : 27. 8. 80.— J. H." 



The species seems to be the Upper Amazonian representative of 

 P. viridis, of which there is a good series in the National Collection 

 from Guiana, Cayenne, and Rio Negro. 



3. On the Remains of some large Extinct Birds from the 

 Cavern-deposits of Malta. By R. Lydekker, B.A.j 

 F.Z.S., &c. 



[Eeceived May 2, 1890.] 

 (Plates XXXV. & XXXVI.) 



The greater number of the remains of Vertebrates obtained from 

 the Pleistocene cavern-deposits of Malta having been described in the 

 publications of this Society, I have thought it well to bring to the 

 notice of the Society evidence of some new species of birds from 

 these deposits. 



In the year 1865 Prof. W. K. Parker described in the ' Pro- 

 ceedings ' of our Society ' a number of bird-bones from the Maltese 

 1 P. Z. S. 1865, p. 752. 



