108 ME. C. W. ANDREWS OH! REMAINS OF ^PTOENIS [Feb. 6, 



3. On some Remains of JEpyornis in the British Museum 

 (Nat. Hist.). By Chas. W. Andrews, B.Sc, F.Z.S. 



(Assistant in the Geological Department). 



[Eeceived February 3, 1894.] 

 (Plates XIV. & XV.) 



During the last two years several collections of vertebrate 

 remains from Madagascar have been received at the British 

 Museum. These include, in addition to the bones about to be 

 described, portions of the skeleton of Mef/aladapismadagascariensis 

 (a large lemuroid animal recently described by Dr. C. I. Forsyth 

 Major (8)), and bones of a smaller species of the same suborder ; 

 Hippopotamus (? two species, both of small size) ; Potamochoerns ; 

 Bos (two species or varieties) ; HaliaeUis (? vociferoides) ; Crocodilus 

 rohustus ; and a large Testudo. The localities in which these speci- 

 mens were collected are all either in tlie centre of the island or at 

 various points along the south-west coast. It will be convenient 

 for purposes of description to take the remains from these two 

 districts separately, the more so as it may hereafter be shown that 

 the deposits in which the bones occur are of slightly different age. 

 The reason for supposing that this may be the case is, that the 

 species of Hippopotamus and those of ^pyornis from the centre 

 differ from those occurring on the coast. 



Remains of ^pyornis from Central Madagascar. 



These are all from the neighbourhood of Sirabe, in the province 

 of North Betsileo, situated on a plateau about 4000 to 5000 feet 

 above the sea-level. In this district there are numerous hot 

 springs, in the mud round which the bones are found. These are 

 of a dark chocolate-brown colour, very heaAy and brittle, and are 

 impregnated with carbonate of lime, which forms crystalline masses 

 in their cavities. 



The portions of the skeleton represented are : — 



(1) A complete right tarso-metatarsus. 



(2) A nearly perfect right tibio-tarsus. 



(3) Fragments of immature tibio-tarsi (of a large and small 



species). 



(4) A first phalangeal of the inner toe of the left foot. 



The tarso-metatarsus (Plate XIV. figs. 1 &2) is very similar to that 

 of jE. hildebrandti figured by E. Burckhardt (2), but differs from it 

 in size and in some points of structure. Its upper extremity is 

 quite complete, so that it is possible for the first time to determine 

 accurately the form of the talon and of the proximal articular 

 surface. 



The dimensions of this bone are as follow ; those of ^. maocimus 

 and ^. hildebrandti are given for comparison : — 



