278 
ZOOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
[PART III. 
Depanididae, Euryceros is a complete puzzle, having been 
placed with the hombills, the starlings, or as a distinct family. 
Fctlculia is an exceedingly aberrant form of starling, long thought 
to be allied to Irrisor. Philepitta, forming a distinct family, 
(Paictidae), is most remarkable and isolated, perhaps with remote 
South American affinities. Leptosoyna is another extraordinary 
form, connecting the cuckoos with the rollers. Atdomis , 
Brachypteracias , and Geobimtcs, are terrestrial rollers, with the 
form and colouring of Pitta. So many perfectly isolated and 
remarkable groups are certainly nowhere else to be found ; and 
they fitly associate with the wonderful aye -aye {Chiromys), 
the insectivorous Centetidae, and carnivorous Cy^yptoprocta 
among the Mammalia. They speak to us plainly of enormous 
antiquity, of long-continued isolation ; and not less plainly of 
a lost continent or continental island, in which so many, and 
various, and peculiarly organized creatures, could have been 
gradually developed in a connected fauna, of which we have 
here but the fragmentary remains. 
Plate VI. — Illustrating the characteristic features of the 
Zoology of Madagascar. — The lemurs, which form the most 
prominent feature in the zoology of Madagascar, being com- 
paratively well-known from the numerous specimens in our 
zoological gardens ; and good figures of the Insectivorous genera 
not being available, we have represented the nocturnal and 
extraordinary aye-aye ( Chiromys madagascariensis ) to illustrate 
its peculiar and probably very ancient mammalian fauna ; while 
the river-hogs in the distance {Potamochcerus edwardsii ) allied to 
African species, indicate a later immigration from the main- 
land than in the case of most of the other Mammalia. The 
peculiar birds being far less generally known, we have figured 
three of them. The largest is the Euryceros prevosti , here classed 
with the starlings, although its remarkable bill and other pecu- 
liarities render it probable that it should form a distinct family. 
Its colours are velvety black and rich brown with the bill of a 
pearly grey. The bird beneath ( Vanga curvirostris) is one of the 
peculiar Madagascar shrikes whose plumage, variegated with 
green-black* and pure white is very conspicuous; while that hf 
