102 LEMURS. 



"kinds of J femurs necessarily very brief, and our chief 

 .'attt&zftiTxa will accordingly be directed to some of the more 

 " peculiar l^nd-iMfcre sting forms. Among the Madagascar 

 lemurs are included a group known as indris, or, in the 

 vernacular, sifakas, and containing the largest of all these 

 animals. These sifakas are distinguished by the circum- 

 stance that all the toes of the foot, except the first, are 

 united together at their bases ; and they are further 

 characterized by their parti-coloured fur, in which white, 

 black, and various shades of brown and orange predo- 

 minate. Most of them have long tails, but in one species 

 this appendage is represented by a mere stump. They 

 live in small parties in the woods of Madagascar, and feed 

 entirely upon vegetable substances. By the aid of their 

 powerful limbs they are able to take enormous flying leaps 

 sometimes as much as thirty feet in length from tree 

 to tree, and when passing from one clump of trees to 

 another on the ground they hop on their hind limbs, with 

 their arms raised above their heads, in a series of short 

 jumps, when they are said to present the most ludicrous 

 and grotesque appearance. They are largely diurnal in 

 their habits, although sleeping during the heat of the 

 day. 



The true lemurs, which are likewise confined to Mada- 

 gascar and some of the adjacent Comoro islands, differ 

 from the sifakas in having thirty-six in place of thirty 

 teeth, by their perfectly free toes, and their less elongated 

 hind limbs. They all have long tails, and the best known 

 species is the above-mentioned cat, or ring-tailed lemur, 

 easily recognized by the feature from which it derives its 

 second name. This animal, which is often exhibited in 

 menageries, is about the size of a domestic cat, and is 

 peculiar in frequenting rocks rather than trees, in at least 

 certain districts in Madagascar. The black lemur, in which 

 the male is black and the female red, is a nearly allied 

 species ; and there are also several others. The females of 

 these lemurs have a peculiar habit of carrying their young 

 clinging to the under surface of their body, with the head 

 on one side and the tail on the other ; but this strange 

 position is only maintained for a certain time, after which 



