18G7.] MR. J. GOULD ON A NEW CLIMACTERIS. 97^ 



Before concluding this paper I wish to call attention to the new 

 and fourth species oi Tndris, lately discovered by M. A. Grandidier*, 

 and described and figured by him, under the name Propithecus ver- 

 reauxi, in a publication entitled 'Album de I'ile de la Reunion,' 

 1866-67. It is from the arid south and south-west coasts of Mada- 

 gascar, and is called by the natives " Sifak." 



A fine specimen of this animal has been recently acquired by the 

 British Museum from Paris. Its anterior teeth (the only ones visible) 

 agree with those of the other Indrisinoi, especially with those of /. 

 diadema, the anterior pair of upper incisors being considerably larger 

 than the posterior pair. That agreement I fully expect will be found 

 to extend through its whole organization ; but before long M. Al- 

 phonse Milne-Edwards will supply us with full information on the 

 subject. The more I have of late considered the species of Indris, 

 the more I am disposed to think that the great peculiarities of the 

 dentition, the remarkable structure of the carpus (without an os 

 intermedium), and of the pelvis and vertebral column may hereafter 

 be found to accompany other differences, together warranting the 

 elevation of the group to the rank of a distinct family of the Lemu- 

 roidea. But on this question we shall be able soon to form a well- 

 grounded judgment, as amongst the treasures lately brought by M, 

 A. Grandidier from Madagascar is a specimen of the group pre- 

 served in spirit. It is a matter of congratulation that so interesting 

 an object should have fallen into the able hands it has ; and thus a 

 form closely allied to that originally described by Bennett under the 

 name Propithecus diudema'\ will, like Cryptojirocta ferox (also ori- 

 ginally described and named by the same naturalist ;[;), receive its 

 full elucidation from the labours of M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards §. 



3. On the Australian Genus Climacteris , with a Description 



of a New Species. By John Gould^ F.R.S. &c. 



Few of the genera constituting the avifauna of Australia are more 

 distinct and remarkable than that named Climacteris, the members 

 of which, like the Certhia familiaris of our own island, are especially 

 adapted for creeping over the surfaces of large trees ; they are, how- 

 ever, as structurally distinct from our well-known Creeper as they 

 are from the Sittce or Nuthatches, of both of which genera no species 

 has yet been found in Australia. Their food principally consists of 

 insects, which they procure among the interstices in the bark of the 

 trees, or on the ground around the base of their boles. 



* I have now (February 18G8) received letters from M. Alphonse Mihie-Ed- 

 wards and from M. A. Grandidier, informing me of the discovery by the latter 

 gentleman of a new Lemuroid, which has been named by liim Cheirogaleus sa- 

 maii. The species is remarkable for an immense accumulation of fat in the tail, 

 — recalling to mind the well-known African Slicep. 



t P. Z. S. 1882, p. 20. 



+ Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. i. p. 137, pi. 21. 



§ Memoir by Messrs. A. Milne-Edwards and A. Crrandidier, ^inn. des Sc. Nat 

 1807, vol. vii. series .5, p. 321. 



