THE TRUE LEMURS 



215 



A female of this species in the Gardens of the London Zoological Society twice 

 gave birth to a young one, and thus afforded an opportunity of seeing the curious 

 manner in which the true .lemurs carry their offspring. This is shown in the cut 

 on p. 202. The young one born on the twenty- fourth of March 1884 proved to 

 be a female, and was of the same brown color as its mother. On the third of April 

 in the following year the second young one was born, which was a male, and at the 

 time of birth it was of the black hue of its father. Each of these young ones was 



THE BLACK LEMUR. 

 (One-sixth natural size.) 



carried lying nearly across the abdomen of its mother, with its tail passed round 

 her, and thus on to its neck, so as to afford a firm attachment ; and it is believed 

 that, at least in the wild state, the young are at a later period carried on their 

 mother's back. 



A nearly allied lemur, of which the male was described by Dr. Sclater, may 

 be called the smooth-eared black lemur (L. rufipes}, and is distinguished by the 

 smaller size of the ruff round the throat, and the absence of a fringe on the ears of 



