QUADRUMANA. 



65 



Geoffrey's Potto (Lemur potto, Lin.; Calago Grunientit, Desm. ; 

 P. Geoffrot/i, Ben.) — From Sierra Leone; a slow-moving- and retiring 

 animal, which seldom makes its appearance but in the night-time, 

 and feeds on vegetables, chiefly the Cassada.] 



The Galagos (Otolicnus, Illig.) — 

 Have the teeth and insectivorous regimen of the Loris ; the 

 tarsi elongated, which gives to their hinder limhs a dispro- 

 portionate extent ; tail long and tufted ; large membranous ears 

 [which double down when at rest, as in some Bats] ; and 

 great eyes, which indicate a nocturnal life. [The index, as well 

 as the thumb of the anterior hand, inclines in some to be op- 

 posable to the other fingers.] 



Several species are known, all from Africa ; as the Great Galago (Galago 

 crassicaudatus, Geof.), as large as a Rabbit ; and the Senegal Galago (G. 

 Senegalensis, Geof.), the size of a Rat. The latter is known as the Gum 

 animal of Senegal, from its feeding much on that production. [These pretty animals have at night all the activity of 

 birds, hopping from bough to bough, on their hind limbs only. They watch the insects flitting among the leaves, 

 listen to the fluttering of the moth as it darts through the air, lie in wait for it, and spring with the rapidity of an 

 arrow, seldom missing their prize, which is caught by the hands. They make nests in the branches of trees, and 

 cover a bed with grass and leaves for their little ones : are a favourite article of food in Senegal. A species larger 

 than the others has lately been received alive, O. Garnottii of Ogilby.] 



Fitc. 5.— Hand of Potto. 



Have the 

 between 



The Mai.mags (Tarsius) — 



tarsi elongated (fig. 6), and all the other details of form as in the preceding ; but the interval 

 their molars and incisors is occupied by several shorter teeth [that is, their upper canines are 

 very small ; and] the middle upper incisors are elongated, and re- 

 semble canines. [There are but two permanent lower incisors, and the 

 inferior canines present more of the ordinary form and direction.] Their 

 muzzle is very short, and their eyes still larger than in any of the fore- 

 going. [Tail very long, and almost naked.] Are also nocturnal ani- 

 mals, and insectivorous ; inhabiting the Molluccas. 



[Two species are known, T. spectrum, Geof., (Lemur tarsius, Shaw ; T. fiuco- 

 manui, Fischer,) and the T. baneanus of llorsfield. It is observed by Geoffrey 

 that although the Malmags have the external ears much less developed than in 

 the Galagos, this inferiority is counterbalanced by the far greater volume of the 

 auditory bulla: of the temporal bones, which are so developed as to touch 

 each other; and thus the sense of hearing is, by another mode, rendered 

 as acute in the former as in the latter. The Malmag has an aversion to light, 

 and retires by day under the roots of trees ; feeds chiefly on lizards, and leaps 

 about two feet at a spring ; is easily tamed, and capable of some attachment; 

 holds its pny in its fore-hands, while it rests on its haunches; produces one 

 young at a birth, and lives in pairs.] 



Travellers should search for certain animals figured by Commerson, 

 Fig. 6.-Foot of the Maima*. and which Geoffroy has engraved {Ann. .V«.v.xix. 10), under the name of 



Cheiuogales (Cheirogaleus). 

 These figures seem to announce a new genus or subgenus of Quadrumana. [Three species are re- 

 presented in Commerson's drawing, all of which appear to be now authenticated by specimens. Their 

 proportions are those of the Galagos ; dentition as in the Malmags, except thai the) retain all their 

 inferior incisors ; the head is round, the nose and muzzle short, lips furnished with whiskers, the i 

 large and approximate, and the ears short and oval ; the nails of the lour extremities are compressed 

 and somewhat claw-like, and the tail is long, busby, and regularly cylindrical 



Three or more species are known, all from the great island 01 Madagascar. Thej constitute the division 

 Lichanos of Gray. 



The singular genus Cheiromys, also, from the same peculiar locality, which is arranged f>y the 



author among the Rodentia, would appear to have much better claim to be introduced here, and near 



