S54 HE. G. A. 130ULENGER ON POLYPTERUS CONGICUS. [May 2, 



only difference in the coloration between the sexes being that, 

 whilst the underparts of the body are bright bay in the male, they 

 are reddish-grey in the female ^ The specimens were obtained 

 by Crossley, and came, according to the Register, from the Betsi- 

 misaraka Country, which is rather a vague definition. 



I have myself collected specimens of what I consider to be the 

 same as Gray's species in four different forest-districts, from 900 

 to about 1300 metres above the sea-level, viz. at Ampitambe, 

 !N.E. Betsileo (at the confines of the Betsimisaraka country) ; at 

 Ambohimitombo and Ivohimanitra, farther to the south, in the 

 Tanala country (the Tanalas, " foresters," are part of the Betsimi- 

 saraka tribe) ; and, lastly, at Vinanitelo, Southern Betsileo, on the 

 confines of the Tonalas of Ikongo. The coloration varies slightly 

 from one locality to the other ; especially the specimens from the 

 Jo west district, Ivohimanitra, are of a lighter coloration, and in the 

 females the throat is white ; in young specimens the whole of 

 the underparts being of this coloration. Prom my material I am 

 disposed to agree with Schlegel ^, who considered Grray's " Frosimia 

 rufijies" to be the same as Is. Geoffroy's Lemur rubriventer and 

 L.Jlaviventer^, the latter based on the two female specimens held 

 by Schlegel, rightly as I think, to be females of the former. 



My collections contain about a dozen individuals, J , 2 , and 

 young; but I have never met with a black male. At first sight it 

 would appear quite possible that in the most northern pai-ts of 

 Madagascar the males of one species of Lemur might have a 

 different coloration from those in more southern districts. 

 ' Unfortunately, neither the type of L. nigerrimus, which, as said 

 before, lived at the Society's Gardens, nor any other black Lemur, 

 apart from L. macaco, is in the Natural History Museum. I 

 should not attach great weight to the colour of the iris, stated to 

 be greenish-blue in both male and female L. nigerrimus, if this 

 coloration were not such a very exceptional occurrence in Lemurs. 

 All my supposed specimens of L. rvfipes had a dark yellow iris, 

 'nor have I ever met with bluish eyes in any species of Lemur. 



Of more importance still is the difference in the skulls, those 

 of L. iiigerrhnus figured in Grandidier's work * being different 

 from Gray's and my specimens of supposed L. rufipes. So that, in 

 conclusion, until better evidence is forthcoming, I am not inclined 

 to admit the specific identity of the two forms. 



Mr. G. A. Bouleuger exhibited a specimen of the fish Polypterus 

 eongicus, measuring 22 centimetres long, from the Eiver Congo 

 (Bangala Country), i-emarkable for the retention of the right 

 opercular gill, the axis of which measured 34 millimetres and the 



' ^ Dr. J. E. Gray, •' On a new Species of Lemur from Madagascar" &c., Ann. 

 Nat. Hist. [4] vol. viii. p. S.'W (1871) ; id. P. Z. S. 1872, pp. 852, 853, pi. Lxix. 

 (coloured figures inaccurate). . : 



^ ^. Sclilogel, Monographic des Singes, p. 311 (187(i). 



^ Is. Geoffrov Saiut-Hilaire, Catal. nieth. Coll. Mammif. &c. pp. 71, 72 (1801). 



* Hist. Madag., Mamm. Atlas, ii. 1890, pi. 



