76 MAN AND APES. 



each hand is short, but in the Potto it is 

 reduced to a minute rudiment, so that each 

 hand is but three-fingered. 



All possess a very tenacious grasp, and by 

 a special arrangement of the muscles and 

 tendons the mere stretching of the leg causes 

 the toes to flex and embrace tightly any 

 object placed within their grasp. In this 

 way the dead body may be securely suspended 

 by the weight of the trunk extending the legs. 



These animals devour not only eggs and 

 insects, but also birds, in addition to fruit. 



The fourth sub-family (Galaginince) con- 

 tains two genera — one an exclusively Mada- 

 gascar type, the other as exclusively peculiar 

 to the continent of Africa. 



Both have the ankle elongated in a re- 

 markable degree and in a peculiar manner, 

 described below (Fig. 53) with the rest of the 

 skeleton. 



The Madagascar genus is called Cheiro- 

 galeus. 



The other genus of the sub-family is called 



