EXTINCT LEMURS 



also. They are a group which is somewhat inter- 

 mediate between the more highly organized monkeys 

 and the Insectivora (e.g. shrews, hedgehogs, etc.). 

 With grasping hands and feet suitable for climbing and 

 handling their food, is combined a crafty and long- 

 snouted face, such as that of a fruit bat. The brain, 

 that organ by which the higher Primates can be distin- 

 guished from the lower, is on a level with animals 

 lying lower in the scale, and is not like that of monkeys. 

 The Germans appropriately enough signalize this half- 

 way character of the lemurs by terming them " half- 

 affen " ; and Dr. Forsyth Major has lately found the 

 fossil remains of an animal which he thinks still more 

 successfully bridges over the rather narrow gulf separat- 

 ing lemurs from monkeys. So much then for the 

 relationships of our Hapalemur and of course other 

 lemurs. Extreme agility is one of the most conspicuous 

 qualifications of this lemur, and of those which are 

 most nearly allied to it. Its energy of muscular move- 

 ments contrasts greatly with that of the more torpid 

 lemurs of West Africa, and of the eastern hemisphere. 

 This can be readily witnessed in the cages at the Zoo. 

 This rapidity of movement will render it a little diffi- 

 cult to inspect a curious peculiarity of Hapalemur, 

 almost unique, so far as is known, in the lemur tribe. 

 If the animal can be induced to lend itself to scientific 

 observation, the visitor may note upon the wrist of the 

 male a patch of black spiny structures, which are 

 columnar and corn-like outgrowths of hardened skin. 

 In the lady Hapalemur griseus these outgrowths are not 

 present, but in the same place is a patch of black and 

 naked skin. Precisely the same kind of structure is to 

 be found on the foot, not on the hand, of an African 

 lemur not very closely allied to this, and which is known 

 as Galago garnetti. What the use of these roughened 

 patches of skin may be is not known at present ; obser- 



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