THE LORIS. Ill 



milk and the flesh of birds. It can catch birds more easily than one 

 would suppose from its appearance. The natives affirm that at night it 

 will attack peacocks, choke them, and then suck the brains of its prey. 

 My prisoner slept all day m a most peculiar attitude. He seized his perch 

 with all his hands, gathered himself up into a hairy ball, and hid his head 

 between his legs. The large and brilliant eyes of the Loris have attracted 

 the attention of the Cingalese ; they make amulets and love-charms from 

 them, and hold the poor creature in the fire till its eyeballs burst." 



The Loris is a small animal, measuring only nine inches in length ; its 

 limbs are very slender, the muzzle is abruptly sharp and pointed, the 

 color is a rusty-gray, somewhat darker round the eyes, and a white 

 streak runs down the nose. The absence of a tail is strikingly noticeable. 



Wood gives an animated description of the mode in which it captures 

 its prey. " The color of its fur is such that the dark back is invisible in 

 the obscurity of night, and the white breast simulates the falling of a 

 broken moonbeam on the bark of a branch. Its movements are so slow 

 and silent that not a sound falls on the ear. 



" Alas for the doomed bird that has attracted the fiery eyes of the 

 Loris ! No Indian on his war-path moves with stealthier step or more 

 deadly purpose than the Loris on its progress toward its sleeping prey. 

 With movements as imperceptible and as silent as the shadow on the 

 dial, paw after paw is lifted from its hold, advanced a step and placed 

 again on the bough, until the destroyer stands by the side of the uncon- 

 scious victim. Then, the hand is raised with equal silence, until the 

 fingers overhang the bird and nearly touch it. Suddenly the slow cau- 

 tion is exchanged for lightning speed, and with a movement so rapid that 

 the eye can hardly follow it, the bird is torn from its perch, and almost 

 before its eyes are opened from slumber, they are closed forever in death." 



IX.— GENUS PERODICTICUS. 



This is another genus containing only one species, the POTTO, Pcro- 

 dicticns Potto, a small Lemur with almost rudimentary forefinger found at 

 Sierra Leone on the West Coast of Africa. The Potto has a slender 

 body, roundish head, projecting muzzle, moderately large eyes and small 

 ears ; the arms and legs are nearly of the same length, the hands and feet 

 large. The short fur is of a reddish-gray mixed with black, redder on 



