CHAP. IV] THE GENERAL ANATOMY OF THE LEMUROIDEA 65 



habits are attributable the thick felt-like or woolly covering 1 of 

 hair distributed over the body and the tail. The latter is not 

 prehensile in the strict sense of that term, but nevertheless it can 

 be twined round a bough to support the animal : it also plays an 

 important part in balancing the animal during its arboreal move- 

 ments. The nostrils are directed forwards as well as outwards, 

 and the space between them is narrow (as compared with its width 

 in Tarsius). The elongated snout and lower jaw are distinctive, 

 as are the very large eyes with their circular pupils. The external 

 ears are also large and capable of much movement. The pro- 

 minence of eyes and ears is in accord with the nocturnal mode 

 of life. The fore and hind limbs are of nearly equal length 

 (a primitive and quadrupedal character), while the hands and feet 

 are evidently and specially adapted to the prehensile functions so 

 necessary to an arboreal animal. 



B. The Hair. The peculiar (woolly) character of the hair in 

 Lemurs renders difficult a definite separation of the several hair- 

 tracts in adult examples. In miniature and foetal specimens, the 

 mode of distribution of the hair is more clearly shewn. It has 

 been described with great precision by Professor Schwalbe 2 . In 

 general it appears that in several noteworthy points the Lemurs 

 present a modified form of the condition assumed to be most 

 primitive, viz. that characterised by the uniform flow of the hairs 

 from the tip of the nose backwards to the end of the tail. In 

 regard to details, the groups of vibrissae (sinus-hairs) first require 

 notice. In the Lemurs, these hairs are arranged in five groups. 

 Of these, four are facial, and according to their situation are 

 distinguished respectively as the supra-orbital, naso-labial, zygo- 

 matic and mental series. They are distinguished further not 

 only by their length and rigidity, but also by a tendency to 

 implantation in definite and circumscribed eminences or pads (one 

 for each group). These pads are often more darkly pigmented 

 than the surrounding skin. [The submental group of vibrissae 



1 Specimens of Lemur catta passed the winter of 1912 — 13 in the open air near 

 Cambridge, without shewing any untoward effects of climate. 



2 Uber die Richtung der Haare bci dot Halbaffen. Sonderabdruck aus Voeltzkow 

 Reise in Ostafrika in den Jahren 1903— 1905, Band iv. 1910, from which publication 

 Figs. 35, 36, and 37 have been taken with the author's permission. 



