1863.] MR. G. KREFFT ON A NEW DROMICIA. 49 



rounder than our European species, I also had some Mammals, 

 closely allied to the English Hedgehogs, but, my medicine-chest 

 being stolen, had no chance or means of injecting them, without 

 which they would not have kept. 



"Any birds worth sending home have been already dispatched 

 through my friend Mr. Newton ; and I can only say that the country 

 is rich enough to lead us to hope for more uuknowa as yet. The 

 country west of the capital has never yet been explored. 



" By the first opportunity I will forward specimens of the smaller 

 Snakes, Chameleons, Lizards, and a small Bat, in spirits. The Cha- 

 meleons I have seen attain a length of 18 inches. 



"J. Caldwell." 



"Port Louis, December 4, 1862." 



P.S. ♦* I had several Aye-ayes {Chiroimjs madagascariensis) in my 

 possession at Tamatave to send to Mauritius ; but none arrived alive. 

 One that died in Tamatave I skinned, and gave the skin to Captain 

 Wilson, of H. M. S. ' Gorgon.' In so doing, I noticed what I have not 

 yet seen in any of the published accounts, namely, that the lower jaws 

 at the junction of the chin are only connected by a strong ligament, 

 and do not, as in most other animals, virtually form one connected 

 semicircle of bone. They play easily in a vertical direction, inde- 

 pendently of each other, and, when the animal is gnawing, alter- 

 nately. This accounts for the prodigious power of gnawing the 

 Aye-aye possesses ; for I have seen one cut through a strip of tin 

 plate 2 inches wide, nailed over the door of its cage. As there is 

 the usual vertical and lateral motion of the lower jaw, and this inde- 

 pendent power superadded, its effect is not astonishing." 



The following papers were read : — 

 1. Description of a New Species of the Genus Dromicia, 



DISCOVERED IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF SyDNEY. By 



Gerard Krefft. 



Dromicia unicolor, sp. nov. 



Dentition.— Inchoxs, ^. Canines j^. Praemolars 3^3. Mo- 

 lars |=|. = 36. 



Of the grinders in the upper jaw, two are large and four cuspidate; 

 but the last one is much smaller, of a triangular form, and furnished 

 with three cusps only. The praemolars are three in number, of 

 which the posterior one is large, and furnished with two fangs and 

 two roots ; the other two are rudimentary, with flat surfaces ; there 

 is an interspace between these teeth and the long canine ; of the three 

 incisors the anterior one is the largest. 



In the lower jaw there are three true molars, with four cusps to 

 each, but the last or posterior one smaller than the other two ; these 

 are preceded by a large two-rooted false molar (which, in one speci- 

 men examined, is furnished with one, in the other with two fangs), 



Proc. Zool. Soc.^1863, No. IV. 



