ON THE LEMURID.E. 193 



limbs, and elevation of the nose. The latter characters, as generic, are of no 

 value ; the former is erroneous. We have examined the skulls of examples of 

 both these genera, and a fine skull of the Slender Loris is'now before us. Its 

 dentition, agreeing with that of the Slow Loris, is as follows : — Incisors - 8 ; 

 canines ■ 1?? -^ ; molars on each side - — The incisors in the upper jaw are 

 very small, and in 'pairs'; the incisors of the lower jaw are as in the true 

 Lemurs. The canines do not differ from those in the genus Microcebus. 



Of the molars above, on each side, the three first are false, the first being 

 single, the two next bicuspid. The three true molars are 4-cuspid, the points 

 being acute. 



Of the molars below, on each side, the two first are false, the first being 

 simple and conical, the second bicuspid, with a small posterior notch. Of the 

 true molars, the two first are 4-cuspid, but the third or last has a posterior 

 additional tubercle. > 



The skull is broad and round, the arch of the forehead more distinct than in 

 the genus Lemur, and the profile of the muzzle more concave. The orbits are 

 round and large, and their frontal margin is much elevated above the skull : the 

 interorbital space is reduced to a thin elevated ridge. The temporal fossa?, 

 which are not at all deep, have their outline on the parietal and temporal bones 

 defined by a distinctly raised line. The auditory bullae of the temporal bones 

 are more compressed than in Lemur or Microcebus. 



Cuvieb, in his Regne Animal (last edit.), though well aware of the generic 

 distinctions laid down by Geoffroy, and adverting to them in a foot-note, does 

 not adopt them ; neither did that eminent naturalist, the late Mr. Bennett, re- 

 gard them as tenable. For ourselves we have no hesitation in the matter, 

 having examined both the Slender and the Slow Lemur anatomically. 

 • Genus Loris, Geoff., Stenops, III. — Gen. Char. — Head round ; muzzle short 

 and acutely pointed; eyes large, full, bright, and approximating to each other;, 

 ears round, short, open, and almost buried in the fur; tail completely rudi- 

 mentary. Body slender; head and feet as in Microcebus. Habitat, India and. 

 its islands. The species of this genus have long been celebrated for the slowness 

 and caution of their movements, to which may be added a remarkable tenacity 

 of grasp, in conjunction with the endowment, in the limbs, of a long continuance 

 of muscular contraction. In the arteries, both of the anterior and posterior ex- 

 tremities, is observed a peculiarity, first detected by Sir A. Carlisle, which is 

 also met with in the Sloth, and in the Cetacea. The main artery of the limbs, 

 instead of being a single tube, giving off branches in its course, consists of an 

 intertwined vermiform plexus of vessels, anastomosing freely with each other, 

 and carrying onwards a large volume of blood, to which this congeries of tubes 



