102 THE LEMURS. 
slothfulness is the more peculiar, because the creature is so sensitive on the subject, that 
if it be in the least neglected, it loses its pretty gaiety, pines away, and dies. 
It is fond of company, and can seldom be kept alone for any length of time. The 
food of the Marikina is chiefly composed of fruits and insects; but in captivity, it will 
eat biscuit and drink milk. It is a very timid animal, unable to fight a foe, but quick in 
escape, and adroit in concealment. Its voice is soft and gentle when the animal is pleased, 
but when it is excited by anger or fear, it utters a rather sharp hiss. The dimensions of 
the Marikina are much the same as those of the Pinche. 
RUFFED LEMUR.—Lemur Macdco. 
LEMURS. 
THE form of the monkeys which are known by the name of Lemurs, is of itself suffi- 
cient to show that we are rapidly approaching the more quadrupedal mammalia, the which, 
however, we shall only reach through the wing-handed animals, or bats, and the strangely 
formed flying-monkey, which seems to span the gulf between the monkeys and bats. 
The head of all the Lemurs is entirely unlike the usual monkey head, and even in 
the skull the distinction is as clearly marked as in the living being. Sharp, long, and 
pointed, the muzzle and jaws are singularly fox-like, while the general form of these 
animals, and the mode in which they walk, would lead a hasty observer to place them 
among the true quadrupeds. Yet, on a closer examination, the quadrumanous charac- 
teristics are seen so plainly, that the Lemurs can but be referred to their proper position 
among, or rather at the end of, the monkey tribe. 
The word Lemur signifies a night-wandering ghost, and has been applied to this group 
of animals on account of their nocturnal habits, and their stealthy, noiseless step, which 
renders their progress almost as inaudible as that of the unearthly beings from whom they 
derive their name. 
