LORICERA LORY. 



loranthus is among the most lovely of plants, hanging 

 in rich clusters of scarlet flowers from the branches 

 of tropical trees which " they often clothe with beauty 

 not their own.' 1 The mistletoe of the Druids is sup- 

 posed to have been the Loranthus Europteus, the 

 common viscum (mistletoe,) never being seen upon 

 the oak, while the loranthus inhabits no other tree. 

 " If this be so," says Lindley, " the latter must have 

 once existed in this kingdom, although now extinct." 

 It has been suggested that all vestiges of their reli- 

 gion were extirpated with the Druids, which will ac- 

 count for the loranthus having disappeared wherever 

 that -religion formerly held its sway. The mistletoe 

 may be introduced into the bark of a hawthorn or 

 apple tree, by merely sticking the seed upon a smooth 

 part of the bark. 



LORICERA (Latreille). A genus of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the family Carabtike, and sub- 

 family Harpalides, distinguished by having the inter- 

 mediate joints of the antennae clothed with long hairs. 

 There is only one British species, L. pilicornis, a 

 pretty active species of a brassy green colour, found 

 under stones. 



LORIPEDE (Poli.) A genus of molluscs, so 

 named by Poli, but now united to the genus Lucina, 

 of which they appear properly a species. 



LORY (Loris}. A genus of four-handed mam- 

 malia, very remarkable for the slender form of their 

 bodies, and their small and lengthened legs. The 

 head is round, at the same time that the muzzle is 

 elevated, and the nose produced to its extremity. 

 The eyes are round, very large for the size of 

 the animal, and placed so near to each other, 

 that they are separated by only a thin partition of 

 bone. The nostrils open toward the sides of a glan- 

 dulous muzzle, down the centre of which there is a 

 furrow, and there is a slight division of the upper lip ; 

 the ears are rounded ; the tail is wanting, or so short 

 as to be hardly visible externally, though there are 

 six vertebrae in it. The limbs of the loris differ chiefly 

 from those of the lemurs in their greater length and 

 slenderness ; they have all five toes, forming a true 

 grasping hand, and having the thumb opposed to the 

 rest, that on the hind foot being far removed from 

 the others. The nails are flat, with the exception of 

 that of the first toe on the hind foot, which is in the 

 form of a crooked claw. The teeth bear a consider- 

 able resemblance to those of the galagos; the upper 

 jaw has two small incisive teeth on each side, sepa- 

 rated from the other two by a vacant space ; there is 

 also one canine and six cheek teeth ; but the first 

 three are only false grinders. In the lower jaw there 

 are three long and pointed incisors on each side with- 

 out a vacant space like that in the upper ; and as is 

 the case in the lemurs, the canines of the lower jaw 

 lock inside that of the upper, contrary to the form in 

 most animals. 



In the loris, but we believe not in the lemurs, there 

 is a remarkable formation of the principal arteries 

 which supply the extremities with blood, that is, the 

 subclavians and the femoral?. Both divide into a 

 ramified plexus of small vessels, which inosculate with 

 each other, and form a sort of labyrinth, by means of 

 which the current of blood to the limbs is greatly 

 diminished. But though it is highly probable that 

 this compound form of the vessel occasions a much 

 slower circulation in the limbs of those animals than 

 if that vessel was entire, yet the volume of the vessels 

 is large in proportion to that of the limb, and it is 



probable that the quantity of blood which it habitu- 

 ally contains is corresponding. It is certain that the 

 motions of those animals are much more slow than 

 those of any others with which we are acquainted, 

 excepting perhaps the sloths, and their habit is alto- 

 gether of a different character. 



Though the loris agree in so many particulars with 

 the lemurs, as have induced very many to give to the 

 species which is figured in our plate along with the 

 lemurs, the habits of the two genera are very dif- 

 ferent. They are both nocturnal, or, at all events, 

 twilight animals in their feeding; but there 18 a 

 remarkable contrast between the great vigour and 

 rapid motions of the lemurs, and the feeble structure 

 and creeping pace of the loris. The absence of a tail 

 in the latter gives them an unh'nished or mutilated 

 appearance ; and their slender limbs, long hands, and 

 feeble joints, tend greatly to increase that appearance. 

 The loris too are inhabitants of India and the Ori- 

 ental Islands, while the lemurs are met with only in 

 Madagascar; and it is worthy of remark, that the 

 produced extremities and lengthened bodies of the 

 loris give them some resemblance to the long-armed 

 apes of the east. They are wholly climbing animals, 

 reaching from twig to twig, whereas the lemurs are 

 agile leapers. There are some very curious points 

 in what may be called the physiological structure of 

 the loris, chiefly in the female, which make them dif- 

 ferent from every other genus of mammalia; but 

 the details of those peculiarities are interesting only 

 to scientific naturalists, and even among them the use 

 of this difference of structure has not been made out, 

 so that in a popular point of view it is really of no 

 use. There are two species at least which are known, 

 and probably there are many others ; for the forests 

 which these animals inhabit are exceedingly close, 

 and consequently difficult to be explored ; and besides 

 the nocturnal habits of the animals tend to make 

 them less observed than if they were abroad on the 

 branches during the day. The structure of their 

 mouths is decidedly carnivorous ; but still those which 

 have been kept in confinement have not refused suc- 

 culent vegetable matter. It is understood, that when 

 in their native forests, their food consists chiefly of 

 insects and small birds, upon which they are ena- 

 bled to steal softly, and capture while reposing in the 

 trees ; because their motions are so slow and wary 

 that they must occasion very little noise. Their 

 large eyes indicate a strong power of sight, with only 

 a twilight illumination; and the same extent of e\< > 

 renders them but ill able to bear the glare of the light, 

 especially the strong light of a tropical sun. Tin' 

 closeness of the eyes to each other also indicates a 

 forward motion toward an object which is in a state 

 of repose ; and this again forms a striking difference 

 between them and the lemurs, which have the eyes 

 at a considerable distance from each other, though 

 not nearly so far apart as those animals which range 

 for their prey, and course it by speed of foot. Indeed, 

 to form a correct judgment of the difference in cha- 

 racter between these two genera of animals, it is only 

 necessary to examine the expression given to the two 

 lemurs properly so called, and the lori or slow-paced 

 lemur. We shall very briefly notice the two prin- 

 cipal species. 



THE SLOW LORI (L. tardigrada) Is a native of 

 India, and probably also of many of the eastern 

 islands. It is of a greyish fawn colour, with a brown 

 stripe down the back, and the space round the eyes 



