90 THE LOW ER PRIMATES 



In a personal communication, Mr. Harry Raven tells of hunting tarsius 

 both in Dutch Borneo and Celebes. The animals were usually in second 

 growth of the forest, or the scrubby forest along river I^anks. They are entirely 

 nocturnal and frequently found in clumps of bamboo or in vines that sur- 

 round the trunks of large forest trees. He hunted at night with a jacklight. 

 The first time he saw tarsius, two or three of them were together and he 

 caught the reflection of the eyes of one, shot and wounded it. When it was 

 picked up it squeaked, a sharp, piercing squeak. The other two answered the 

 call and when the wounded one was shaken it would repeat the squeaking 

 until the others came up close. The animals are extremely active, probably 

 the quickest jumpers of all mammals. When they are grasping a small 

 branch, they can twist their heads in the direction they are going to jump, so 

 quickly that it is almost impossible to see it — more cjuickly than the eye can 

 follow. It is as though they were looking in one direction and jumping in 

 another, they turn their heads with such great speed. In captivity they are 

 pugnacious and cannot be tamed, although it is difhcult to keep them for 

 long. In habits tarsius is close to the galago of South Africa, which lives 

 in thickets and dense forests; in fact, their habits are nearly identical. 



Affinities of Tarsius to Other Primates 



G. Elliot Smith, who has given much attention to the aiFinities of the 

 primates, says: " It is well to recall the fact that the brain of tarsius exhibits 

 decisive evidence of the lemuroid status in the calcarine region, in the Sylvian 

 fissure and in numerous traits which have been enumerated. In the degree of 

 caudal extension of its hemispheres, it is even further removed from the 

 insectivora and more pithecoid than the lemurs. But the evidence of cerebral 

 anatomy lends no more support than I believe the structure of the rest of the 

 bod}' does to the view that the approximation of tarsius to the apes implies its 

 separation from the lemurs. So far as its brain is concerned, Tarsius is a 



