THE SIFAKAS. lOI 



Body yellowish-white ; a spot on the top of the head dark 

 brown, sometimes washed with rufous, separated from the face 

 by a white frontal bar. Face black ; eyes brownish-yellow ; 

 interior of ears black, and naked ; a grey patch on the middle 

 of the back; outer aspect of the fore-arms, and hind-legs, 

 ashy-grey ; rest of the body white. Hands and feet white. 

 Tail yellowish-white. Length of body, i8 inches; of tail, 22 

 inches. 



Young. — Entirely white, with a dark brown spot on the head ; 

 the under surface of the body washed with rufous. 



Varieties. — Two well-marked varieties of this species are 

 known, both of which were for many years considered to be 

 distinct species. Continued exploration has, however, now re- 

 sulted in the accumulation in various museums of a large 

 amount of material from many localities, and this proves that 

 the two forms really belong to but one species. 



VON DER DECKEN'S SIFAKA. PROPITHECUS DECKENI. 



Differs from the true P. verreauxi in having the face and 

 ears black, and the body otherwise entirely grey, or white, 

 washed more or less with yellow (sometimes rufous on the 

 limbs); or of an ashy-grey colour on the loins, neck, and outer 

 aspect of the limbs ; the under side bright rufous ; chest and 

 inner sides of the limbs rusty-white, with a fulvous spot at the 

 base of the tail. Specimens from the forests of the interior have a 

 grey spot on the back of the neck expanding into a collar, which 

 is absent in those from the coast. An albino variety comes, so 

 far as is at present known, only from the wooded belts on the 

 extensive plains between the rivers Manambolo and Manjaray, 

 on the west coast. 



