694 PRIMA TES 



at Old Calabar, and is very rare, only a few individuals having as 

 yet been met with. Vertebrae : C 7, D 15, L 7, S 3, C 9. 1 



Family Tarsiid.^. 



Dentition : i f, c \, p f , m § ; total 34. The first upper 

 incisor large, and in contact with its fellow of the opposite side. 

 Canine of moderate size. Molars with numerous pointed cusps. 

 Lower canine semi-erect, its apex diverging from that of the single 

 incisor. First lower premolar smaller than those behind it. Orbit 

 to a large extent separated from the temporal fossa by a bony 

 partition. Fibula slender, with its lower half confluent with the 

 tibia. Second and third digits of the hind foot with compressed 

 claws ; all the other digits of both feet with flat nails. Calcaneum 

 and navicular bone of the foot elongated as in the Chirogales and 

 Galagos, but to a still greater extent. Colon short and not folded. 

 Vertebra? : C 7, D 13, L 6, S 3, C 27. 



Tarsius. 2 — The family contains the single genus Tarsius, of 

 Avhich but one species is known, T. spectrum, the Tarsier, a very 

 singular little animal, rather smaller than an English squirrel, with 

 very large eyes and ears, a long thin tail, tufted at the end, and 

 immensely elongated tarsal portion of the foot, in allusion to which 

 its generic name was given to it. It inhabits the forests of many 

 of the islands of the Indo-Malayan archipelago, including Sumatra, 

 Borneo, Celebes, and some of the Philippines, feeds chiefly on insects 

 and lizards, sleeps during the day, but is tolerably active at night, 

 moving chiefly by jumping from place to place, an action for which 

 the structure of its hind legs, which present a curious resemblance 

 to those of a frog, seems particularly well adapted. It is rare, not 

 more than two being generally found together, and only brings 

 forth one young at a time. 3 



Family Chiromyid.e. 



Dentition of adult : i \, c %, p ^, m % ; total 1 8. Incisors very 

 large, compressed, curved, Avith persistent pulps and enamel only in 

 front, as in Rodents. Teeth of cheek series with flat, very indis- 

 tinctly tuberculated crowns. In the young the first set of teeth 

 more resemble those of the normal lemurs, being i |-, c ^, m #, all 

 very small. Orbit surrounded by a ring of bone posteriorly, beneath 

 which it communicates freely with the temporal fossa. Fibula well 



1 For the anatomy of P. potto, see Van tier Hoeven and Van Campen (Ontleed- 

 kundige Ondcrzock van den Potto ran Bosmah, 1859) for P. calabarcnsis, Huxley, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 311. - Storr, Prodromus Mcth. Mamm. (1780). 



3 H. Burmeister, Bcitragc zur nahreren Kenntniss der gattung Tarsius, 1846. 



