THE SPECTRE TARSIER 



Few save professional naturalists are really con- 

 versant with a tithe of the animals which are 

 exhibited in museums and zoological gardens. So 

 great is the number of species now known that 

 taking the mammalia only, the tyro in zoological 

 science has before him a new world to explore, while 

 the advanced worker still possesses an inexhaustible 

 mine. The nocturnal creatures, being from their very 

 nature difficult to study, perhaps exhibit in greatest 

 degree that element of mystery which forms so great 

 a part of the composite, many-sided charm of this 

 delightful Science: therefore, these Essays may well 

 commence with an example selected from their 

 ranks. The lemurs, with their great staring eyes 

 and ghost-like movements, are indeed weirdly 

 attractive, and some of the lesser species recall the 

 quaint hobgoblins of fairy tales. Perhaps the most 

 singular of all this singular host, the king of the 

 goblins, is the little tarsier lemur of the Philippine 

 Islands and the East Indies. 



The spectre tarsier {Tarsius spectrum) — malmag 

 of the Bohol natives — is about the size of a small 

 rat, the length of the body being about six inches 

 and that of the tail about eight. The head is 

 rounded and catlike, with large erect ears. The 

 eyes are enormous and staring, being so closely 



