ORDER PRIMATES: PRIMATES 125 



Vinanitelo, SE. Betsileo; and north of Fianarantsoa, central Betsileo. 

 He states the range as follows: "The whole of eastern, northern, 

 and east-central Madagascar, including the plateau, as far south as 

 Ft. Dauphin. Also the north-west, down to the Bay of Bombetoka." 

 If, however, Schwarz is correct (p. 402) in recording murinus from 

 Fort Dauphin, the range of smithii can scarcely extend quite so 

 far south. 

 G. A. Shaw (1879, pp. 135-136) gives the following account: 



They inhabit a belt of forest-land stretching from the eastern forest into 

 the heart of Betsileo, a few miles north of Fianarantsoa, where they are 

 tolerably abundant. They live on the tops of the highest trees, choosing 

 invariably the smallest branches .... 



Their food consists of fruit and insects and most probably honey. I have 

 frequently seen them catching the flies that have entered their cage for 

 the honey; and I have supplied them with moths and butterflies, which they 

 have devoured with avidity. 



They are extremely shy and wild. Although I have had between thirty and 

 forty caged at different times, I have never succeeded in taming one. . . . 



I have had none breed in captivity. 



Kaudern (1915, p. 74) records several specimens (as M. minor] 

 from Ste. Marie de Marovoay on the Betsiboka River in the north- 

 west, and one specimen (as M. smithii) from Fenerive on the east 

 coast. 



G. M. Allen (1918, p. 516) records a specimen from Didy, south 

 of Lake Alaotra. 



Coquerel's Dwarf Lemur 



MICROCEBUS COQUERELI (Grandidier) 



Cheirogalus Coquereli Grandidier, Rev. Mag. Zool., ser. 2, vol. 19, p. 85, 1867. 



("Morondava," west coast of Madagascar.) 

 SYNONYM: Microcebus coquereli Schlegel and Pollen (1868). 

 FIGS.: Schlegel and Pollen, 1868, pi. 6; Milne Edwards, Grandidier and Filhol, 



1897, pi. 259, fig. 4; Beddard, 1902, p. 544, fig. 261; Elliot, 1913, vol. 1, 



pi. 4, upper fig. (facing p. 145). 



To judge by the small number of specimens recorded, this is one 

 of the rarest lemurs of Madagascar. 



It is a little smaller than Phaner furcifer; above dark gray, washed 

 with rufous ; tail dark rufous, except at the base, where it is colored 

 like the back; under parts yellowish gray. Head and body, 210 mm.; 

 tail, 340 mm. (Grandidier, 1867a, p. 85.) 



Grandidier (1867a, p. 85) had seven of these animals in his pos- 

 session. They were nocturnal and lived on leaves and fruit. 



Schlegel and Pollen state (1868, p. 13) that the species inhabits 

 the most impenetrable forests. They had only a single specimen, 

 secured in the forests of Congony, inland from the Bay of Passan- 

 dava, in northwestern Madagascar. 



