a Specimen of Lemur tardtgradus, 215 



him her playfellow. Any undue familiarities, however, on her 

 part are met with an immediate repulse from him ; and, one 

 time, when patting him rather incautiously with her foot, he 

 bit her so severel}^, that she now", though evidently wishing to 

 be on good terms with him, keeps at a safe distance. This 

 same cat has, since this, again become more familiar. Though 

 not daring to approach him, she follows wherever he goes, to 

 his great annoyance, and renders herself an object of his 

 abhorrence. He cries out on her approach, and is sadly tan- 

 talised by her playful trick of leaping over him. He seems to 

 be rather a social animal notwithstanding. A large japanned 

 tray attracts a good deal of his attention. Seeing his image 

 reflected in it, he walks before it, and tries to grasp his own 

 image. Finding his efforts ineffectual, he imitates the action 

 of the child, by peeping behind, with expectation to see the 

 object there. Before a looking-glass he shows the same regard 

 and curiosity. 



Vosmaer classed this animal among the sloths ; but a very 

 superficial view of him is enough to show" the erroneousness 

 of this opinion. Buffbn, though classing it where Linnaeus 

 has done, under the name of Loris, has evidently mistaken the 

 animal entirely. Never having seen it, he has confounded it 

 with another species of the same genus. " Viewing its figure, 

 and the length of its legs, he could not imagine that it 

 was slow in leaping or running." This, however, is not 

 correct; for he is incapable of leaping,, and, from his motion 

 and manner, it is evident he never does leap. When irritated, 

 I h«rve seen him dart his body foiixard to seize the offend- 

 ing object ; but, in doing this, his general habits were clearly 

 evinced, his body only being bent, while his hind feet held 

 fast the perch on which he stood, and he made use of them only 

 as a fulcrum, or purchase, to increase the celerity of his move- 

 ment. 



I could obtain no information from the natives who brought 

 me this specimen, regarding his habits and economy : Sir W. 

 Jones mentions that by the Indians he is called the bashful 

 ape ; but with regard to his history the natives were entirely 

 ignorant. He is the second specimen I have seen of this 

 species, which, I believe, has been rarely met with in this coun- 

 try before. 



A very singular anatomical particularity, which in course I 

 have not seen myself, was observed and pointed out by Sir 

 A. Carlisle, who had a rare opportunity, some years ago, of 

 dissecting an animal of this kind. The subclavian artery, 

 soon after entering the axilla, divides into twenty-three equal- 



