ORDER PRIMATES: PRIMATES 127 



Fur of body and tail rather short; dark gray above, fulvous below; 

 tail fat, faded rufous; a white stripe from forehead to nose; orbital 

 ring black. Head and body, 190 mm.; tail, 170 mm. (Grandidier, 

 1868, p. 49.) 



Major (1894, p. 18) and Schwarz (1931, p. 405) record specimens 

 from Morondava. 



Milius's Mouse Lemur 



CHEIROGALEUS MAJOR MAJOR E. Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire 



Cheirogaleus major [E.] Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. [Paris], 



vol. 19, p. 172, 1812. (Type locality not stated; restricted by Schwarz 



(1931, p. 406) to "Fort Dauphin, S.E. Madagascar.") 

 SYNONYMS: Lemur commersonii Wolf (1822); Cheirogaleus milii E. Geoffrey 



(1828); Ch. typicus A. Smith (1833); Mioxicebus griseus Lesson (1840); 



Chirogalus adipicaudatus Grandidier (1868). 

 FIGS.: E. Geoffroy, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. [Paris], vol. 19, pi. 10, fig. 1, 1812; 



Geoffrey and Cuvier, Hist. Nat. Mamm., livr. 32, pi. 188, 1821; Proc. 



Zool. Soc. London 1879, pi. 9 (ssp.?); Milne Edwards, Grandidier and 



Filhol, 1897, pi. 259, fig. 5; Elliot, 1913, vol. 1, pi. 5 (ssp.?). 



The meager information we have concerning this lemur is an 

 indication of its rarity. 



Upper parts varying from brownish gray to ashy brown; under 

 parts and inner side of limbs yellowish or whitish; orbital ring 

 black; nose light gray; hands and feet dark brown; tail pale rufous 

 or ashy brown, sometimes with white tip. Total length, 580 mm.; 

 tail, 275 mm. (Elliot, 1913, vol. 1, pp. 93-94.) Ears naked for their 

 distal half; color more grayish than in Ch. m. crossleyi (Schwarz, 

 1931, p. 405). 



The respective ranges of Ch. m. major and Ch. m. crossleyi are 

 none too clearly defined in the available literature. The former 

 seems to occur in the south and west of Madagascar; the latter, in 

 the center and the northeast. 



Elliot's statement (1913, vol. 1, p. 93) of the range of the present 

 form is probably not altogether accurate: "Eastern coast of Mada- 

 gascar; Fort Dauphin to Tamatave; also in the lower wooded 

 regions of Betsileo Province; and on the west coast from Tullare 

 [=Tullear] to Pasandava, Central Madagascar." 



G. A. Shaw (1879, pp. 134-135) records a specimen (subspecies 

 not determined) from the forests on the eastern side of Betsileo. "Its 

 food consists of fruits and possibly honey .... It appears to be a 

 very uncommon animal, ... as this is the only specimen I have 

 been able to obtain, although I kept a man in the forest for two 

 months seeking for one after I had obtained this one." 



Major (1894, p. 22) records specimens from Morondava in the 

 southwest and from Tamatave and Ankay Forest in the northeast. 



