696 CLASS xvii. 



the crown being worn. Feet pentadactylous, the anterior with 

 toes long, the middle toe very long, slender ; hind feet with hallux 

 raised, nail flat, broad. Tail elongate, villous. 



Sp. Chiromys madagascariensis DESM., Sciurus madagascarknsis GM., SON- 

 NER. Voy. aux Ind. Or. (20 eU Paris, 1806, PI. 92, Tom. IV. p. 121), 

 SCHREB. Sduffth. Tab. 38 D (fig. SONNER.), GUER. Iconogr., Mamrtiif. PL 

 26, fig. 4; the skull fig. in CDVIER R. Ani. 1817, PL 2, figs, i 3. This 

 remarkable animal (Vaye-aye of the French zoologists) discovered by SON- 

 NERAT on the island of Madagascar, has the external form of Galago, a 

 genus of the Leinurids, and forms (by its arched skull also) in some degree 

 the transition from the rodents to the quadrumanes. It has large, naked 

 ears, is sluggish and lives in holes, concealing itself there during the day- 

 time. The few specimens which have been brought to Europe hitherto, 

 are to be found, as far as I know, in the Museum of the Jardin des 

 Plantes at Paris exclusively. LIE"NARD has given a note on a living spe- 

 cimen of four months, Comptes rendus de I'Acad. des Sciences, 1855, XLI., 

 GuisRiN Revue de Zool. vn. p. 436. An adult animal was described by 

 VINSON, GUER. Revue, L 1. p. 478. 



ORDER VIII. Ferce. 



Incisor, canine and molar teeth, or in place of canines false 

 molars, conical; molar teeth equably enamelled, tuberculate or cus- 

 pidate. Feet unguiculate, with claws compressed, acute, uncinate; 

 pollex not separate from the other toes. 



Carnivorous animals. The most live on animal food, some ex- 

 clusively; a few eat fruits also, and other vegetable matters. Their 

 motions are rapid; their irritability great; many have uncommon 

 muscular power. Their organs of sight and smell are peculiarly 

 developed. On the movements of the lower jaw and the dispositio 

 of its articulation, see above, p. 576. 



; 



SECTION I. Pinnipedia. 



Family XXXII. Pinm'pedia ILLIG. Upper incisors four or 

 six, lower four, two, or having served for a short time all, deciduous ; 

 molars with crown either flat, somewhat depressed or cuspidate, 

 acute. Feet short, palmate, pentadactylous, the posterior turned 

 backwards, approximate to each other. Toes of fore feet often de- 

 creasing in size from the pollex, lateral toes of hind feet longer than 



