406 SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY 



the North Pacific ; it attains a length of about a meter and three 

 quarters. This species lives near the shores, and may even 

 ascend rivers for long distances ; it lives chiefly on fish. There 

 are several other species, varying in size and distribution. One 

 of the largest is the sea elephant, found in various places off the 

 western coast of North and South America ; it averages about 

 four meters in length, but one is on record which measured six 

 meters. The male has the snout elongated into a proboscis, 

 about thirty-five centimeters long, and it can be still more elon- 

 gated under excitement. The female has no proboscis and is 

 smaller than the male. 



Order q. Primates 



The Primates (Lat. primus, first) stand at the head of the 

 animal kingdom and include the apes, the apelike mammals, 

 and man. They are pentadactyl, and have the innermost digit 

 opposable to the others except on the anterior appendages of 

 some monkeys and on the posterior extremities in man. The 

 digits are usually provided with flattened nails, rarely with claws. 

 There are almost always two pectoral mammae, sometimes there 

 are two on the abdomen ; and the testes lie in a scrotum. The 

 eyes are directed forward, the dentition is heterodont. Aln 

 all the Primates are adapted to an arboreal life. They are 

 readily divisible into two suborders. 



Suborder 1. Lemuroidea 



The Lemuroidea (Lat. lemnris, ghost, and Gr. elBos, form), or 

 lemurs (Fig. 390), are small animals varying in size from a mouse 

 to a fox, which live on the island of Madagascar, the adjacent 

 parts of the African continent, and on the islands of the Indian 

 archipelago. They are arboreal in habit and mostly nocturnal, 

 often living in large troops ; many are capable of uttering very 

 loud cries. They feed on dates and other fruits, as well as on 

 insects and the blood of small birds. Some species are very cu- 

 rious and grotesque in appearance, such as the specter, Tarsius 

 spectrum, found in Borneo and Sumatra, which has very lai 

 eyes ; the body is about thirty centimeters long, the tail some- 

 what longer. The aye-aye, Chiromys madagascarensis, a native 



