138 



DE. H. F. STANDING OX SUBFOSSIL 



the large bones of the lower limb of these animals is very remarkable. One perfect 

 and one incomplete femur have been found resembling in their general appearance 

 the femur oiMegaladapis edwardsi figured by Dr. Lorenz in his recent memoir on this 

 fossil ; but these bones are much too small to belong to the gigantic Megaladapis 

 described in this memoir. In text-fig. 38 are figured two femurs which I am not able 

 satisfactorily to refer to any of the crania described in this memoir. 



Text-flff. 38. 



A. Femur of type referred to by Grandidier and Ameghino : still undetermined. 

 B. Femur of Megalindris c/allienii. X |. 



The femur marked A closely resembles one figured by Grandidier and referred 

 by him to an extinct Edentate which he named Bradytherium madagascariense. 

 Ameghino, however, in speaking of this femur, thinks it hardly possible to attribute 

 it to a Sloth. He says " Ce groupe [the Sloths] s'est constitue a une epoque tres 

 recente, quand la communication entre TAfrique et TAmerique du Sud n'existait 

 plus, ou etait incomplete, representee par une chaine d'iles. Des animaux arboricoles, 

 les plus lents que Ton connait, et qui ne s'eloignent jamais de la localite qui les a 

 vu naitre comment auraient-ils pu passer au continent Africain et arriver jusqu'a 

 Madagascar] Le fait est tellement improbable qu'il parait presque impossible." 



His conclusion as to the character of the bone itself is that while it bears a distant 



