THE STORY OF THE LEMUR. 



So many people mistake lemurs for monkeys, that I have decided to 

 speak at some length of the former animals. The resemblance between 

 lemurs and monkeys is so strong that it is difficult to explain in a popular 

 work the exact difference without treating of the anatomy, the physical 

 construction of both. This I do not propose to do, but will try to make it 

 clear in other ways. 



The first point of difference is to be noticed in the foxy, but expression- 

 less faces of the lemurs, indicating that they are of a much lower order of 

 intelligence than apes and monkeys. 



Many lemurs are purely night animals, and it was probably from this cir- 

 cumstance, coupled with their silent habits and stealthy movements, that 

 Linnaeus was induced to give them the name which they are now uni- 

 versally known. The name lemur is taken from the Latin term lemures, 

 which, together with that of larvae, was applied by the ancient Romans to 

 such spirits of the dead as were supposed to be of malignant natures. 



Altogether, there are about fifty species of lemur-like animals. They 

 are all restricted not only to the Old World, but also to the southern re- 

 gions of the great land masses of that hemisphere, none of them being 



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