THE TRUE LEMURS. 7 I 



III. THE MONGOOSE LEMUR. LEMUR MONGOZ. 



Lemur mongoz, Linn., S. N., p. 44, no. 2 (1766) ; Scl., P. Z. S., 

 1871, p. 231, figs. I, 2 ; Schl., Mus. Pays. Bas., vii. p. 312 

 (1876); Milne-Edw. et Grandid., H. N. Madag., Mamm., 

 pis. 133-153 (1890). 

 Lemur anjuanensis^ Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 161 (181 2). 

 Prosimia melanocephala, Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 137, pi. xviii. 

 Prosimia xanthomystax^ Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 138, pi. xvii. 



Characters. — Fur woolly and thick ; eyelashes long ; some 

 long bristles behind the angle of the mouth ; face long ; no 

 ear-tufts and whiskers, but a sub-auricular patch of long hair \ 

 some long hairs on the digits; tail bushy. 



Male. — Head, face, streak across the crown of head and down 

 the forehead brownish-black ; ears of the same colour, white- 

 fringed ; cheeks and a spot on the sides of the forehead iron- 

 grey ; sub-auricular cheek-patch white, slightly washed with 

 rufous ; rest of upper surface reddish-grey ; tail darker ; chest 

 and binder side rufous-grey. 



Female. — Rufous-brown above; neck and shoulders white; 

 throat white ; frontal spot black ; face whitish. 



The colour of the fur in this species varies to an extraordinary 

 degree, and before this fact was recognised, a number of sup- 

 posed species, founded on the colour of the animals alone, 

 were described. In course of time, however, as specimens 

 were obtained in greater number, it became evident that the 

 variation was only in the colour of the fur, and that there 

 was none in their anatomical and osteological structure to 

 warrant their being considered distinct species. They have, 

 therefore, all been now classified by Professor Milne-Edwards 

 and M. Grandidier in their great work on the Natural History 



