988 ON SXJBFOSSIL MAMMALS FBOM MADAGASCAK. [DeC. 19, 



In the adult (as will be seen by the skull of an adult Lemur ruhri- 

 venter which I exhibit) the aunulus is represented by a bony ring — 

 the size is scarcely larger than in the youngest stages— which hangs 

 freely in the tympanic cavity, being coalesced with the squamosum 

 only in one part, viz. anteriorly to the stylo-inastoid foramen. 

 Ontogeny thus teaches us that the annulus of the adult is not a 

 secondarily detached part of the bulla. 



In the second place, I have to state, in connection with the above, 

 the important fact, that in the Tertiary Adapis the annidus 

 tympanicus is a free ring, independent of the bulla, absolutely as 

 in the Malagasy Lemurs. Besides, in the large development of the 

 bulla and in the conformation of the whole of the basicranium (in 

 the shape and position of foramina &c.), Adapis closely resembles 

 the Malagasy Lemurs. So that, far from agreeing with 

 Osborn and Wortman, who place Adapis among the " primitive 

 Anthropoidea," I now see no reason for separating it as a family 

 from Malagasy Lemurs. 



In the Oriental and Ethiopian Lemurs both the annulus and an 

 outgrowth from the petrosum enter into the composition of the 

 bulla. In a young N)jcticebus (which I exhibit) it is to be seen 

 that the median part of the bulla is, as in Malagasy Lemurs, formed 

 from an appendage of the periotic, \^'hich becomes co-ossified with 

 the annulus ; in the specimen exhibited the suture between them 

 is distinctly visible. The annulus, in its turn, no longer plays the 

 passive parttbat it does in Malagasy Lemurs, but grows out laterally, 

 so as to form the lateral part of the tympanic cavity, which, however, 

 never reaches the dimensions it has in Malagasy Lemurs. I have 

 not, for the present, sufficient matei'ial to follow the process of 

 development in detail in other Malagasy Lemurs. In the skull of 

 a half-grown Grdago, it may be seen that the composition of the 

 bulla is essentially the same as in Nycticebus. Trom the close 

 agreement in cranial characters between the last-named and Loris 

 and Perodicticus, it may be safely argued that in the development of 

 their bulla they also agree with Nycticehus. The same holds good 

 with regard to Tarsius, as shown by a young skull of Tarsius 

 spectrum now exhibited. 



Dr. Forsyth Major also asked leave to exhibit specimens of two 

 subfossil Mammals from Madagascar, which would be fully described 

 later on ; but he preferred not to delay their exhibition, as very 

 soon it would probably be no longer in his power to exhibit them. 

 Dr. Forsyth Major made the following remarks : — 



This almost complete skull, together with a mandibular ramus, 

 represents a new species of Nesojnthecits, which may be called 

 Is^esojriihecus ausiralis, sp. nov. It is distinguished from N. roherti 

 by its smaller size, by the less steep facial profile, by the position of 

 the lachrymal foramen situated on the margin of the orbit, and not 

 inside as in N. roherti, and by the slightly outward direction of the 

 orbits. This beautifully preserved specimen shows that the genus 

 Qlohilemur founded by me on the posterior, and Nesopitheeus roherti 



