LEPIDOLEMUR 115 



GENUS LEPIDOLEMUR. SPORTIVE LEMURS. 



'■• 2—2' ^- 1—1 5 "• 3— S» "^^ 3—3 3*- 



LEPILEMUll (sic), I. Geoff., Cat. Meth. Mamm. Mus. Hist. Nat. 

 Paris, Ire Part., 1851, p. 75. Primates. Type Lepilemur ( !) 

 mustelinus I. Geoffroy. 

 Lepidolemur Peters, Monatsb. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 



1874, p. 690. 

 Galeocebus Wagn., Schreb., Saugth. Suppl., V, 1855, pp. XII, 147. 



Smaller in size than the true Lemurs (genus Lemur) ; head 

 conical ; ears large, round, hairless ; tail shorter than body ; fourth 

 finger and fourth toe longest ; nails keeled, that of the great toe large 

 and flat. Skull : nose long ; no upper incisors as a rule ; canines large 

 with a posterior heel, and internal groove ; no diastema between canine 

 and first premolar ; the latter tooth has one exterior cusp only ; the 

 next two molars have both an interior and exterior cusp ; the last molar 

 has three cusps ; all the molars have a rudimentary hind cusp largest in 

 last molar ; lower first premolar large, resembling canines, with a proc- 

 ess on anterior margin ; last molar with one exterior cusp ; the median 

 molar with one external and one internal cusp. Palate extending to 

 middle of last molar. Mastoids much enlarged and swollen. Sagittal 

 ridge present. Space between orbits, and in front of lacrymal foramen, 

 depressed. Feet only slightly elongate. No os centrale in wrist. 



This genus was instituted by I. Geoffroy (1. c.) for the reception 

 of his L. MUSTELINUS, at that time the only species belonging to it that 

 was known. Since then others have been discovered and seven are 

 now recognized. Lepidolemur has been thoroughly investigated by 

 St. George Mivart in his excellent paper on the Lemurid^ and its 

 characters plainly given ; and he failed to find that its affinities had any 

 marked relationship with any other genus, although it approximates to 

 Hapalolemur = Myoxicebus, more nearly than to any other. The 

 teeth are peculiar and recall those of Indris. They are arranged in 

 nearly parallel lines, and there are no incisors in the upper jaw. The 

 first lower premolars are large, similar to canines in shape with one 

 external cusp, and the last lower molar has a large fifth cusp. The 



