LEMURIDsE 



685 



every part of the island of Madagascar, living in the woods in small 

 bands of six or eight together, and feeding exclusively on buds, 

 flowers, and berries. Their powerful hind limbs enable them to 

 leap from tree to tree, often to a distance of 10 yards, without any 

 apparent effort, and thus seeming to fly through the air. When 

 obliged to descend to the ground to pass from one clump of trees 



FIG. 825. Indris (/jtdris brevicaudatd). From Milne-Edwards and Grandidier, 

 Mammiftres de Madagascar, pi. 12. 



to another they do not run on all fours, but stand erect, and 

 throwing their arms above their heads progress by a series of short 

 jumps, producing an effect which is described by travellers who 

 have seen them thus in their native haunts as exceedingly ludicrous. 

 They are not nocturnal, but most active in the morning and even- 

 ing, remaining seated or coiled up among the branches during the 

 heat of the day. They are naturally of a quiet and gentle disposi- 

 tion, and do not show much intelligence. All the species are also 

 less vociferous than the true Lemurs, only when alarmed or angered 



