276 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



the five fingers included within it, the little finger is by 

 far the smallest, and thence they increase in length to the 

 thumb, which lies in the same plane as the others, but 

 is much the longest and the largest of them all. In the 

 foot, the digit which answers to our great toe is also the 

 longest and strongest one, but the other four are nearly 

 equal in length to each other and to it decreasing from 

 the second to the fifth digit, very much less rapidly than 

 do the corresponding digits of the hand. The five digits 

 of the foot seem at the first glance to be much less com- 

 pletely involved in a common fold of skin than do those of 

 the hand ; but in fact they are all thus included to beyond 

 their tips. The deceptive appearance of distinctness is 

 due to the fold of integument which extends beyond 

 them, being drawn out into five long processes of skin, 

 one opposite the tip of each toe. The nails on the dorsal 

 surface of each extremity mark the end of the respective 

 digits. These nails are mere rounded rudiments, save in 

 the three middle fingers of each hind-foot, each of which 

 has an elongated, compressed, and curved claw. 



The length of the animal from the nose to the root of 

 the tail is often above six and a half feet ; the tail is five 

 and a half inches. The fore-limb measures about two and 

 a half feet, and the hind-limb two and a quarter. Some- 

 times the animal may be a little over eight feet from the 

 snout to the end of the tail. 



The colour varies from chestnut -brown to blackish- 

 brown, and there are long yellowish-white whiskers on 

 either side of the muzzle. 



The creature is a vivacious, active animal, even on 

 land, and wonderfully graceful and quick in its move- 

 ments in water, where its four limbs act simply as fins. 

 On land it walks on all-fours, with the palmar surface of 

 its hands and the plantar surface of its feet on the 



