FAMILY OF LEMUR*. Z 



Now, with regard to the Lemurs, they depart from the Monkeys of loth 

 worlds, in dental characters ; but in quadrumanous structure, they approach 

 those of the old. As in these, however, so among the Lemurs, are the thumbs of 

 the feet the most perfectly developed. In many species the tail is wanting ; in 

 some it is short, in none is it a truly prehensile organ. If we turn from the 

 Lemurs to the Didelphidce, in which family we include Didelphis and Phalan- 

 gista, as the types of their respective forms, we see animals of arboreal habits, 

 with an abnormal dentary system, and omnivorous appetites, destitute of a 

 thumb on the forehands, but having this organ largely developed on the hind 

 feet, and furnished with a truly prehensile tail. It may be objected, that the 

 Opossums and Phalangers do not form a natural family. But we incline to the 

 views of Mr. Ogilby, who contends for a " gradual and uninterrupted transition 

 from the naked-prehensile-tailed Opossums of South America, through the 

 equally naked-tailed Couscous, Balantia, of the Indian islands, to the Phalan- 

 gers." And here we cannot but observe, that the prehensile power of the tail, 

 constituting it an organ of importance in the economy of the animal, is almost 

 exclusively confined to pedimanous Mammalia. To this rule there are only the 

 following exceptions, as far as we know, among the whole range of the mammi- 

 ferous kingdom ; viz: — the Kinkajou (Cercoleptes) the Coendou ( Synetheres), 

 the Tamandua (Myrmecophaga TamanduaJ, in which it is partially prehensile, 

 and the little Two-toed Anteater (Myrmecophaga didactylia, Linn.^), in which 

 it is completely so. 



To this it may be added, that with a prehensile tail, there is associated in 

 every instance a certain slowness and cautiousness of movement, devoid of the 

 brusquerie and easy alertness so remarkable in all the Qaadrumana, except in a 

 group among the Lemurs (Loris), comprehending a limited number of species, 

 -whose actions are slow, and whose limbs possess a peculiar arterial arrangement, 

 connected with a surprising tenacity of grasp, and the power of long-continued 

 muscular strain, in one unaltered attitude. It will appear, then, from what we 

 have said, that the Ckeiropoda present double analogues, the Monkeys of the 

 old world forming a parallel group to those of the new, and the Lemuridce, a 

 parallel group to the Didelphidce — the quadrumanous Lemurs bearing the same 

 relationship to the quadrumanous Simi<z, as do the pedimanous Didelphidce to 

 the pedimanous Simice. Having thus far attempted to shew the situation and 

 natural affinities of the Lemuridce, we shall now proceed to a closer investigation 

 of this curious and interesting family, which consists of several genera, distin- 

 guished from each other by various characters, which we shall detail as we pass 

 along in our review. 



The term Lemur, first adopted by Linn^us (from the Latin Lemures, signi- 



b 2 



