LEMUR 155 



WHITE-FACED LEMUR. 



Type locality. Madagascar. Type not in Paris Museum. 



Geogr. Distr. Eastern coast of Madagascar from Masindrano on 

 the south to Bay of Antongil on the north. 



Genl. Char. Greater part of head white. 



Color. Male. Forehead, cheeks, temples, back of head and ears 

 white ; face from above eyes, and nose black ; upper part of body, and 

 outer side of limbs dark brown, each hair tipped with bright pale 

 rufous, giving the fur a speckled appearance; entire under parts, and 

 inner side of limbs whitish gray; hands and feet like outer side of 

 limbs ; basal half of tail like the back, apical half black. 



Female. Paler than the male, and the white seen on the head of 

 the male, is dark gray on the female. 



Measurements. Similar in size to L. fulvus. Skull : occipito- 

 nasal length, 84; Hensel, 75 ; zygomatic width, 49; intertemporal width, 

 27; median length of nasals, 31; palatal length, 37; length of upper 

 molar series, 28 ; width of braincase, 38 ; length of mandible, 57 ; length 

 of lower molar series, 31. 



This is a large Lemur, easily distinguished from all others by hav- 

 ing the head from the eyes to behind the ears, and the cheeks white. 

 The type, if it ever was in the Paris Museum, has disappeared. On 

 plate XIII of the Cimelia Physica J. F. Miller has figured an animal 

 with a heart shaped white spot on the forehead, and described by Shaw 

 as having the "upper part of the neck and back, hind part of the 

 thighs and tail black ; the under part of the neck and body and the 

 limbs white. On the forehead is a large heart-shaped spot pointing 

 downward." To this figure Gmelin, (1. c.) gave the name of bicolor. 

 It has been suggested by Shaw and others that perhaps this creature 

 is the same as Lemur albifrons Geoffroy, but excepting the white 

 on the forehead it bears no resemblance whatever to Geoffroy's species, 

 and the restricted area of white on the head is very unlike the almost 

 entirely white head of L. albifrons. Miller's animal is apparently 

 adult, and does not seem to be in a state where the color of the pelage 

 is changing to something else, and this condition, moreover, is not 

 habitual with the Lemurs, as the young usually closely resemble the 

 adults. L. ALBIFRONS is not common in collections, and it cannot be 

 said that it is at all well known in so far as its appearance at all 

 ages is concerned, but with the knowledge that we have at present, it 

 would be very unwise to reduce Geoffroy's name to a synonym in favor 

 of that bestowed by Gmelin to an animal he probably had never seen, 

 and which has no representative in any collection. Miller's example 



