1890.] ON SOME LARGE EXTINCT BIRDS FROM MALTA. 403 



I may further add, from my own knowledge of the caves in Mau- 

 ritius I think it very unlikely that any animal remains so recent as 

 those of the Dodo or its contemporaries will be found in them, as in 

 the rainy season they are generally flooded by roaring torrents, which 

 would at once wash away modern deposits. 



2. Oa a new Toucan of the Genus Pteroglossus. 

 By P. L. ScLATER, M.A., F.R.S;, Secretary to the Society. 



[Eeceived April 24, 1890.] 



A single skin in the British Museum, formerly in the Salvin- 

 Godman Collection, seems to indicate the existence in Upper Ama- 

 zonia of a new species of Toucan allied to P. viridis. 



This I propose to call 



Pteroglossus didymus, sp. nov. 



Svpra obscure viridis, alis caudaque ni(/ricantibus viridi limbatis ; 

 capite nigro ; uropyyio coccineo : infra limonaceo-fiavus in ventre 

 medio brunnescente adumbratus ; [jatture et colli laterihus nigris ; 

 tibiis brunneis ; rostri mandibula superiore flavida, hvjus culmine 

 et ipsa apice nigris ; inferiore nirjra, ad basin margine flavicante 

 ornata : long, tota 14\5, cdce 4'6, caudee 5*6, rostri, a rictu ad 

 apicem linea directa, 3"3. 

 Hah. Amazonia superior. 



Obs. Proximus P. viridi, sed rostri culmine nigri, et tibiis brun- 

 neis distinctus. 



The typical specimen bears one of Hauxwell's well-known paper 

 labels marked : — "Male, iris red. Skin round the eye indigo-blue, 

 with a red patch behind eyes : 27. 8. 80. — J. H." 



The species seems to he the Upper Amazonian representative of 

 P. viridis, of which there is a good series in the National Collection 

 from Guiana, Cayeime, and Rio Negro. 



3. On the Remains of some large Extinct Birds from the 

 Cavern-deposits of Malta. By R. Lydekker, B.A.^ 

 F.Z.S., &c. 



[Received May 2, 1890.] 



(Plates XXXV. & XXXVI.) 



The greater number of the remains of Vertebrates obtained from 

 the Pleistocene cavern-deposits of Malta having been described in the 

 publications of tliis Society, I have thought it well to bring to the 

 notice of the Society evidence of some new species of birds from 

 these deposits. 



In the year 1865 Prof. W. K. Parker described in the ' Pro- 

 ceedings ' of our Society ^ a number of bird-bones from the Maltese 

 1 P. Z. S. 1865, p. 752. 



