b36 



MltSCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— NOTE ON THE MALABAR SLENDER LORIS, 

 LORIS LYDEKKEIUANUS. 



Through the kindness of Lt.-CoL F. Wall, i.m.s., the Society received on 

 13th June last a living example of a female Mysore Loris, Loris lydekke- 

 rianus and her two young. Shortly after their arrival the mother and her 

 two babies were put in a large wire netting cage, which, half way up, 

 had some branches fixed across and on one side near the top a box with 

 one side removed. All day long the mother used to sit curled up on the 

 top of box, but apparently at night wandered about the cage. On the 

 bottom of cage were two Jerboas, Gerhillus sp., which had been brought down 

 from Mesopotamia by Major Cheesman in the spring of 1917, and were 

 thriving splendidly. Most of the day they spend their time in a box, which 

 they entered by a hole at one end, coming out in the evening to feed and 

 frisk about. Two days after the Loris was put into the cage the hamal 

 came to me in the morning with a dead Jerboa, which had been decapi- 

 tated and its head eaten. Thinking it was the work of a rat we carefully 

 examined the cage but found no hole, by which a rat could have entered. 

 On the following morning the remaining gerbill was found killed and eaten 

 in the same way and there was no doubt that the Loris was the culprit. 



It seems rather surprising that such an active and vigorous animal as 

 a Jerboa could have been caught and killed by a Slender Loris, more 

 especially when she was handicapped with two young on her breasts. 



During the day the Loris used to sit on a branch or on the top of the 

 box rolled into a ball with her head tucked in against her stomach, her 

 hands and arms also hidden away inside and only her legs and feet 

 visible, the latter clasping the branch or supporting her on the ground. 

 In the middle of this ball and firmly fastened on to each of the mammse 

 were the two young and it was a mystery how they were not suffocated. 

 Occasionally a small foot or hind leg was visible or a grotesque little 

 animal with huge head, and body tapering away to almost nothing, would 

 immerge from the ball and mount its mother's back, slowly grasping the 

 fur with its hands and feet, chiefly the latter. As Col. Wall has rightly 

 suggested the young Lorises forcibly reminded one of a bat in their 

 movements, especially when crawling over their mother's back. Unfortu- 

 nately the two young ones did not live long. One of them dropped oil' its 

 mother one morning, and after a few attempts to pick it up from a branch too 

 high above, the mother gave up and retired with the remaining one to 

 another corner of the cage. The young one was picked up, warmed and fed 

 and put on to its mother only to fall otf. Again it was put on and this time 

 it seemed to be all right and was seen iirmly attached to its mother's breast 

 when the Museum was closed for the night. In the morning however the 

 hamal found both dead at the bottom of the cage, one appeared to have 

 died, while the other had been killed by the mother. 



Colour. — In colour the young are much lighter than the adults The 

 hair on the back is dark for the basal half like the adults, but the 

 remainder is of a very pale whifcish-grey. Down the middle of the back 

 there is a pale fawn colour line, which starts at the posterior end of the 

 white head-streak and ends at the anus. The markings on the face and 

 round the eyes are much browner than in the adult and the hairs in the 

 inside of the ears are the same colour as the face markings. 



Age and time of Breeding . — Col. Wall suggests that these two young ones 

 were born in the beginning of June or end of May and probably he is 

 about right. The skull shows that all the milk teeth are visible. 



