Prof. W. H. Flower 07i Extinct Lemurina. 323 



Colour dark olive tlirougliout, with the exception of a white 

 band, which crosses the anterior border of the snout, and passes 

 backward to the posterior third of the lateral fissure, where it 

 bends dorsallj and terminates. 



The special characters are the very large moutli, with the 

 prominent rug-a3, which show that the animal probably possesses 

 unusual powers of oesophageal j^rotrusion — a supposition borne 

 out by the great development of the external circulnr muscular 

 fibres and the succeeding longitudinal coat of the organ. The 

 internal glandular lining is also very firm. The outer layers 

 of the proboscis correspond with the type in the Lineidag ; but 

 the internal longitudinal layer is largely developed. 



Hah. Swain's Bay, Kerguclen's Island {Eaton). 



XXXEI. — Extinct [jEilURiNA. 

 By William Henry Flower, F.R.S. 



The animals commonly known as Lemurs, from the island of 

 Madagascar, and certain nearly related species from the 

 African continent and the southern parts of Asia, constitute a 

 well-defined group of mammals, which were formerly asso- 

 ciated with the Monkeys in the Linnean order Primates, and 

 the Cuvierian Quadrumana, forming in the latter the third 

 main division Strepsirrhina (GeoiF. St.-Hilaire). As more 

 complete knowledge of their organization has been gradually 

 attained, the interval which separates them structurally from 

 the Monkeys has become continually more evident ; and since 

 they cannot be placed within the limits of any of the pre- 

 viously constituted orders, it has been considered advisable by 

 some naturalists to increase the ordinal divisions in their 

 behalf, and to allow them to take rank as a distinct group, 

 related to the Primates on the one hand, and to the Carnivora 

 and Insectivora on the other *. 



The disputed zoological position of the Lemurs, and the 

 great importance which has been attached to them by some zoo- 

 logists, such as Haeckel,who regard them as the direct transition 

 between the lower and higher mammals, and as survivors of a 



* For the arguments in favour of this view see Alphonse Milne- 

 Edwards, " Observations sur quelques points de rembryologie des Lemu- 

 riens et sur les affinit«5s zoologiques de ces auimaux," Ann. des Sciences 

 Nat. Oct. 1871; and P. Gervais, "Encephale des Lemures," Journ. de 

 Zoologie, t. i. p. 7. For those for retaining them among the Primates, 

 see Mivart " On Lepilenmr and Chirogaleus, and on the Zoological Rank of 

 the Lemuroidea," Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 484, 



