During the excavations for the foundations of the bath-house, the skeletons of several examples of an extinct species of hippopotamus were discovered, the crania and tusks being in very perfect preservation. Some of these are now in the museum at Berlin; the finest specimen was sent to the museum of the University of Christiania in Norway. This Madagascar hippopotamus was a smaller species than that now living in Africa, and is probably nearly allied to, if not identical with, another hippopotamus (_H. Lemerlei_), of which remains were found in 1868 by M. Grandidier, in the plains of the south-west coast. I was informed by the people that, wherever in these valleys the black mud is dug into for a depth of three or four feet, bones are sure to be met with. From the internal structure of the teeth and bones of the hippopotami discovered at Antsìrabé, traces of the gelatine being still visible, it is evident that the animals had been living at a comparatively recent period. There have been occasional vague reports of the existence of some large animal in the southern parts of the island; and perhaps the half-mythical stories of the _Sòngòmby_, _Tòkandìa_, _Làlomèna_, and other strange creatures current among the Malagasy, are traditions of the period when these pachyderms were still to be seen in the lakes and streams and marshes of Madagascar. Besides the remains of hippopotami, Mr Rosaas, for many years a missionary of the Norwegian Society, and stationed at Antsìrabé, obtained considerable quantities of the bones of extinct gigantic birds. It is about eighty years ago (_circa_ 1834 and 1835) since it became known to naturalists, through the discovery of portions of massive leg-bones and fragments of enormous eggs, that there was evidence of the former existence in Madagascar of large birds. For a quarter-century after that date, the dislike of the heathen queen to all foreign influence prevented fuller investigations of a scientific character. But since the year 1861 further researches, and excavations made in widely separated localities, have shown that several species of these great birds existed until a comparatively recent period in many parts of the island. It was evident that they were flightless, and were allied to the ostrich, and still more closely to the recently extinct _Dinornis_ of New Zealand. The generic name of _Æpyornis_ was given to these birds, of which several species were discovered, ranging in size from that of a bustard to a bird exceeding an ostrich in height and also in the massive character of the skeleton. The largest species was accordingly named _Æpyornis maximus_. Subsequently, the remains of still larger birds were discovered and these were called _Æ. titan_ and _Æ. ingens_, the largest of them being about ten feet in height. More recent and exact examination has shown that the _twelve_ species which had been formed must be reduced to a smaller number, as some of the lesser kinds have