THE TARSiERS. 



19 



limb, with or without the hand, is longer than the trunk ; its 

 digits also are long and slender (the third being longest, and 

 the second equal to the fourth) and, like those of the foot, 

 terminate in round sucker-like discs. Both the wrist and ankle 

 are haired. 



The long and Rat like tail is longer than the body, and 

 has a tufted termination. The skull presents enormous eye- 

 cavities, the inner margins of the latter almost meeting in the 

 centre. The orbits are nearly closed in from the temporal 

 fossa by the union of the malar and alisphenoid bones — a 

 character in which they differ from all other Lemurs, and 

 approach the Anthropoid section of the Primates. Their 

 dental formula is If, C|, Pf, M| = 34. Of the upper jaw, the 

 incisors are prominent and unequal, the anterior ones being 

 larger than the posterior, and in contact in the middle line, 

 thus leaving no central gap in the front of the jaw, as is the 

 rule among Lemurs ; the canines are about as long vertically 

 as the inner incisor, and are smaller than the corresponding 

 tooth in the True Lemurs ; the pre-molars are canine-like, 

 sharp, pointed, and furnished with a cingulum; the anterior 

 pre-molar is smaller than the two others ; the posterior pre- 

 molar has one external and one internal cusp ; the molars, all 

 nearly equal in size, are wide transversely, strongly cingulate, 

 and have two prominent external cusps. In the lower jaw, 

 the solitary incisor in each half is small, and, instead of pro- 

 truding horizontally, is nearly erect ; the canines are also 

 almost erect, and less like incisors than is usual in the Sub- 

 order. The pre-molars are sharp, but the anterior is smaller 

 than the two posterior ; the anterior and median molars have 

 four cusps, and are cingulate^ while the posterior molar has 

 five cusps. 



• C 2 



