5 54 LARGE EXTINCT LEMUR 



A family, Megaladapididae, has been quite lately founded 

 by Dr. Forsyth Major ^ to include the remains of a gigantic 

 extinct Lemur from iladagascar, which when alive, so far as we 

 can judge from the skull, must have been three or four times the 

 size of the Common Cat. The name Jfi-r/ri/r/dapis madnfidsrariensis 

 was given to the fossil on account of certain resemljlances to the 

 also extinct Adapis. It differs from other Lemurs in a number 

 of characters which jointly warrant its inclusion in a distinct 

 family. The small size of the orbits suggest a diurnal life ; the 

 deep mandibles, which, unlike what is found in other Lemurs, 

 are completely blended at the suture, point to the existence of a 

 howling apparatus, as in JlD/cefes. The low brain -case is a 

 character which is found in so many extinct ilammalia belonging 

 to many different orders that it weighs neither one way nor 

 the other in considering the systematic position of the animal. 

 The shape of the molars, which are three in each half of each jaw 

 as in other Lemurs, is, according to the discoverer, like that of 

 the genus Lrpilcmur. The incisors and the canines are not 

 known. Of a still larger form, M. insignis, the molar teeth are 

 known." 



Sub-Order 2. AXTHEOPOIDEA. 



The Apes differ from the Lemurs in that the teats are 

 always restricted to the thoracic region ; the orbit, though sur- 

 rounded by bone as in the Lemurs (and in Tupaia, a very Lemur- 

 like Insectivore), does not open freely behind into the temporal 

 fossa as in Lemurs (except Tarsivs). The lachrymal opening is 

 inside the orbit instead of outside ; the cerebral hemispheres 

 are more highly developed, and conceal, or nearly conceal, the 

 cerebellum ; the upper incisors are in close contact ; a few other 

 points are mentioned under the description of the characters of 

 the Lemurs. There are altogether about 212 species of Monkeys 

 and Apes. They are tropical and subtropical in range, and, with 

 but few exceptions, are impatient of cold. 



The Monkeys are primarily divisible into two great divisions, 

 which have been termed, on account of the characters of the nose, 



1 Fhil. Trans, clxxxv. B, 1894, p. 16. 



- It seems to be possible that this great Lemuv was extant so lately as 1658, 

 when a creature possibly answering to it was described by de Flacourt. 



