236 THE GEOGRAPHY OF MAMMALS 



true Lemurs (Lemuridm) this Order contains the two aberrant 

 types, the Tarsier (Tarsius) and Aye-aye (Chiromys), both of 

 them of family value. We will say the few words that are neces- 

 sary about the distribution of each of these three families. 

 The typical Lemurs (Lemuridcv), are usually divided 

 into four sub-families, the Indrisinie (Indrises), Lemurinw 

 (Lemurs), Galaginm (Galagos), and Lorisimv (Slow Lemurs). 

 Of these, as will be seen by the annexed table, the two first 

 sub-families, which contain seven genera and about twenty- 

 four species, are absolutely confined to Madagascar and its 

 adjoining islets. It is, in fact, mainly the presence of these 

 peculiar animals, which constitute altogether nearly one 

 half of the whole mammal-fauna of Madagascar, that 

 renders the Malagasy fauna so very different from that of 

 any other part of the world's surface, and makes it a moot 

 point as to whether this zoological division should not be 

 more properly treated as a "Region." than as a "Sub-region." 

 When we come to the third sub-family — the Galagos — we 

 find the typical genus Galago with its six species dis- 

 tributed over continental Africa, but the three other genera 

 of this family, which contains smaller animals of somewhat 

 aberrant form, are again entirely restricted to Madagascar. 

 The fourth and most aberrant group of the Lemurs, com- 

 monly called Slow Lemurs, from their nocturnal habits and 

 sleepy dispositions, contains four genera, two of which 

 belong to the Ethiopian Region and two to the Oriental 

 Region. Although they vary considerably in structure from 

 the more typical Lemurs, there can be no doubt that the 

 Slow Lemurs possess a true Lemurine structure in many 

 important particulars, so that they must have had a com- 

 mon origin with the true Lemurs. This fact would seem 

 to show that the ancient " Lemuria," as the hypothetical 



