1899.] ON THE SKULLS OF SOME MALAGASY LEMTTES. 987 



central line ; on either side of the black stripes were pale fawn 

 stripes ; outside these again were black stripes. The general body- 

 colour was soft greyish brown. The fur was very soft, like that of 

 Malacothrix, so that the general effect of this colouring was 

 particularly pleasing. The tail was barely so long as the head and 

 body, and was thickly covered with short hairs. 



Mr. E. E. Holding exhibited, on behalf of Mr. William 

 Pierpoint, a series of the horns of the Siberian Roebuck (Capreoliis 

 pygargus) brought from the Gulf of the Obi, Siberia, and pointed 

 out some remarkable variations in the form and size usually 

 characteristic of the horns of this species. 



Mr. Holding also exhibited a pair of the horns of the Altai Deer 

 {Oerviis eustephanus) from the same district, which were mainly 

 interesting on account of the absence of the third tine on both 

 horns — a somewhat unusual case, as the third tine in this group of 

 Deer is the most persistent, the " bez " tine being usually 

 arrested. 



A pair of horns, probably of the same species, also showing the 

 third tine absent, had been shown by Mr. H. J. Elwes at a recent 

 meeting of the Linnean Society and figured iu the Journal of that 

 Society for 1899 (Zool. vol. xxvii. p. 32). 



Dr. Forsyth Major, F.Z.S., exhibited several skulls of foetal 

 Malagasy Lemurs, partly collected by himself and partly lent to 

 him by the Hon. Walter Eothschild, M.P., and Prof. Charles 

 Stewart, P.E.S., and made the following remarks : — 



All the Malagasy Lemurs, Chiromys included, exhibit a remark- 

 able peculiarity of their tympanic bulla, the annulus tympanims 

 taking no part whatever in its conformation. This condition 

 is unique amongst the Mammals, if we except the Insectivorous 

 form Tupaia (Winge), to which I am able to add the nearly 

 related genus Ptilocercus. To decide the question whether this is 

 a primitive condition in Malagasy Lemurs, we have in the first 

 place to investigate how the bulla is developed. In the youngest 

 stage available to me for examination, the foetus of a Chiromys, 

 there is no trace of an osseous bulla; the completely ossified 

 annulus lies almost horizontally underneath the periotic. In a 

 second stage (Lepidolemur) ossification begins to be developed 

 from the lower sharp margin of the periotic, M^hich adjoins the 

 annulus. In a third stage {Lepidolemur) this outgrowth appears 

 increased, and has a shell-like shape, with the concavity tnrued 

 outward; the annulus is gradually being uplifted by it. In a 

 fourth stage (Lemur ruhriventer) the shell-like ossification is still 

 more increased, and begins to cover the median part of the 

 annulus ; and this state of things is still more increased in the fifth 

 (Lepidolemur) and sixth stage (Avahis laniger), with the result that 

 first the median part, and eventually the remainder of the annulus 

 becomes invisible when viewed from below,being shut by the periotic 



