HIGH SCHOOL ZOOLOGY. 187 



and wliicli occupy, in some respects, a comparatively low place 

 among the unguiculate Eutheria. With few exceptions the 

 mammals of Madagascar belong to the order Prosimli, and the 

 members of this order are also, with few exceptions, coniined to 

 Madagascar and the neighbouring parts of the Continent of 

 Africa. As well the fact, however, that there ai'e certain out- 

 lying members of the order in the Malay Archipelago and 

 India, and that fossil remains have been found in various parts 

 of the world indicate that their geographical distribution was 

 not always so restricted. They are completely arboreal forms, 

 the inner digits of both fore and hind feet being opposable, and 

 thus forming thumbs. On this account, they were long asso- 

 ciated with the monkeys under the ordinal name Quadrumana, 

 but it is more convenient to consider them apart from the mon- 

 keys, although they are undoubtedly allied in some respects to 

 them. Their dentition is peculiar, the incisors being |, or re- 

 duced in number, the canines absent in a rodent-like genus 

 (Chiromys), and the molai's tuberculate like those of the Insec- 

 tivora, but thev do not confine themselves to insect food, living 

 also upon smaller Yertebrates, fruit, etc. The second digit of the 

 hind limb is always clawed, while the other digits bear nails, 

 such as those of the monkeys. Most of tliem are nocturnal 

 creatures which have a soft warm coat, and often a bushy tail. 



Two families are formed for the reception of the aberrant genera Tar- 

 sius and Cldromys. The former is found living socially in the woods of 

 Borneo, and has receiv^ed its name from the great length of the tarsus. It 

 is also singtilar on account of the enormous size of the eyes. The Cldromys 

 is the Aye-Aye of Madagascar, a form which picks out larvje from 

 the trees on M'hich it lives, by means of an extraordinarily thin finger 

 (the third), which it inserts into their burrows. Its rodent-hke incis- 

 ors suggest that its food is not confined to lai'VEe. 



The third family Lemuridce includes all the other genera, some of which 

 are very bizarre creatures. The Loris {Stenops, &c. ) somewhat resemble 

 the Spectres (Tarsius) in their distribution and habits. The Galagos are 

 carnivorous creatures which vary from the size of a rabljit to tliat of a 



