1904.] ON FOSSIL BIRDS FROM MADAGASCAR, AND EGYPT. 163 



as in Man, but not so lasting a union between the anterior 

 cerebrals as in the Potto. Finally it may be noted that while in 

 the two species of Leimir the union of the two anterior cerebellar 

 arteries takes place just in front of the optic chiasma and also at 

 right angles to the subsequent course, thus resembling the anterior 

 communicating ai'tery of Man, the junction of the same two 

 arteries in the Potto is invisible until the hemispheres are 

 separated, and is thus oblique, as it is in such Monkeys, Rodents, 

 and Cai-nivora that I have been able to examine. 



5. Oil tlie Pelvis and Hind-limb of Mullerorms hetsilei 

 M.-Edw. & Grand. ; with a Note on the Occurrence 

 of a "Ratite Bird in the Upper Eocene Beds of tlie 

 Fayum, Egypt. By C. W. Andkews, D.Sc, F.Z.S. 

 (British Museum, Natural History). 



[Received January 14, 1904.] 

 (Plate v.* and Text-figure 15.) 



Among the numerous bird-remains brought back fi'om Central 

 Madagascar by Di;. Forsyth Major ai-e some beautifully pi'esei'ved 

 bones of the pelvis and left hind-limb of a small ratite bird refer- 

 able to the genus Midlerornis of Milne-Edwards and Grandidier t. 

 The femur, tibio-tarsus, fibula, and tarso-metatarsus, as well as 

 a considei'able portion of the pelvis, wei-e found in natural 

 association, but none of the phalanges were preserved. No 

 detailed description of any member of the genus having ever been 

 published, a brief account of these specimens may be welcome. 

 It may be said at once that these bones difi"er in no very .striking- 

 manner from those of ^Ejryornis, and that they do not appear to 

 throw any further light on the affinities of the iBpyornithidte as 

 a whole. 



Of the tlu-ee species of Mulleror^iis distinguished by Milne- 

 Edwards and Grandidier, the bird in question agrees veiy nearly 

 (in its dimensions) Avith M. betsilei, and since, moreover, it is 

 from the same locality, it may be regarded as belonging to that 

 species. 



The Pelvis (Plate V. fig. 1). — The pelvis, which seems to have 

 been veiy long and nai'row, is very badly pi'esei'ved ; of the ilia the 

 only portion in a tolerably perfect condition includes the acetabular 

 region and a short distance behind it, while the pubes and ischia 

 are I'epresented by mere stumps only. In the pi'eacetabulai- 

 region of the pelvis the upper edges of the ilia must have united 

 to form a strong iliac crest ; just over the antiti'ochanter they 

 divei-ge, forming the supi-a-trochanteric crests which constitute 

 the anterior boundaries of the pelvic escutcheon, of which in the 



* For explanation of the Plate, see p. 171. 

 t Comptes Eendus, t. cxviii. 1894, p. 125. 



11* 



