454 OK A NEW KOBEKT OF THE FAMILY ANOMALUBID^. [May 17, 



The character of the tail seems to outweigh the peculiarities of the 

 skull, which are mostly adaptive, though the form of the zygomatic 

 process of the maxilla cannot be ignored. 



Until younger specimens with less worn teeth are examined it 

 would be difficult to say with which geuus there is nearest relation- 

 ship, or how the three genera stand in relation one to another. 



Notes en the habits of this animal are looked forward to with 

 great interest. The form of the jaws and teeth points to a diet 

 similar to that of Idiurus, whatever that may be, presumably 

 some extremely hard non-fibrous substance. The want of flying- 

 membranes points to diurnal habits if the analogy of the squirrels 

 may be taken as a guide, in which family all those with wings are 

 nocturnal and those without wings diurnal. The single specimen 

 being a male, it is impossible to say whether the curious hairs on 

 the ankles are a sexual character or not ; the true form of these 

 hairs will be seen on reference to Plate XXXV. figs. 10-12. 



[Note. — Since this paper was read, I find that Dr. Matschie 

 had already described an animal, under the name of ZenJcerella 

 insignis, in a paper read before the Gesellschaft naturforschender 

 Treunde zu Berlin (see Sitz. Ges. nat. Fr. Berl. 1898, No. 4), 

 published the same day on which my paper was read. As these 

 two forms seem to be identical, the proper name for this animal 

 will be that proposed by Dr. Matschie ; but since the name 

 Aethurus gliriniis had already been published both in the Abstract 

 of the 'Proceedings' and in 'Nature,' it has been thought advisable 

 to leave the present paper as originally read to the Society. 



Dr. Matschie mentions the bad state of preservation of the feet 

 of his specimen, and this, 1 think, viill account for the discrepancies 

 in the two descriptions of the fore feet.] 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 



Plate XXXIV. 



Aethurus glirmus, half nat. size. 



Plate XXXV. 



Fig. 1. Skull and mandible detached, side view, p. 452. 



2. Skull, iVont view, nat. size, p. 452. 



3. ,, from above, nat. size. 



4. „ palatal view, nat. size. 



5. Mandible, from above, nat. size, p 453. 



ti. Right upper molar series, enlarged, p. 4' 2. 



7. Right lower molar series, enlarged, p. 452. 



8. Fore foot, nat. size, p. 451. 



9. Hind foot, nat. size, p. 451. 



10. A hair of anklet, side view, enlarged, p. 451. 



11. ,, „ from above, enlarged. 



12. „ ,, cross section, enlarged. 



