26 THE LOWER PRIMATES 



degree serve the purposes of other volitional acts. The simultaneous move- 

 ments in their eyes, head and hands necessary to the execution of skilled 

 acts show a much more hmited range of adaptation than in some of the 

 higher apes. The tendency to assume the erect position or to accjuire a sitting 

 posture, even in some partial degree, is not pronounced. Their development 

 of binocular vision is much less advanced than m many of the Anthropoids. 



Activities of Lemur Mongoz 



Tlie first specimen of the Primates considered in this series is one of the 

 subfamily Lemurinae, Lemur mongt)z. 



This animal is distributed along the northwest coast of Madagascar, 

 from Baly to Marinda, and is also found in the islands of Anjouan, Comorro, 

 Mohilla and Nossi-Be. It inhabits the forests and goes in large troupes, 

 keeping to the uppermost branches of the highest trees. Its agihty in leaping 

 from tree to tree is most remarkable and so rapid that it can with diflicuity 

 be followed by the eye. Hunters say that it is easier to kill a bird on the wing 

 than a lemur when leaping. If pursued, it has a habit of dropping suddenly 

 from the topmost branches into the bushes, giving the hunter the impression 

 that the animal has been killed. This impression, however, is soon dissipated 

 upon seeing the lemur in another tree at a considerable distance from the 

 spot where it fell. 



In the wild state the animals subsist largely upon bananas, but they are 

 also fond of the brains of birds which they are most skillful in capturing. 

 After fracturing the bird's skull with the teeth, as they might a nutshell, 

 they suck the brain out of the brain-case. The lemur, however, does not eat 

 the rest of the bird. 



From this description of its activities, the great agility of the animal is 

 evident, as is also the fact that it lives in an environment requiring the utmost 



