22 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



brakes which it frequents. Mr. Charles Hose, in his " Mammals 

 of Borneo," states that, in that island, the Tarsier is found in 

 the jungles of the low country, skipping about from branch to 

 branch. According to the notes of this excellent field-natural- 

 ist, it has a habit of turning its head almost completely round 

 without moving the rest of its body. This very remarkable 

 creature lives in pair* in the tropical forests, in holes in the 

 tree stems, or under their roots, feeding chiefly on insects and 

 small lizards, which, as Mr. Cuming has recorded, it holds by 

 its fore-paws while devouring, sitting up the while on its 

 posterior. In drinking it is also said to lap water like a Cat. 

 The Tarsier seldom makes any kind of noise, but when it does 

 emit a sound, it is a sharp, shrill call. The female produces 

 one, rarely two, young at a birth; these are similar to the 

 parents. They are covered with hair, and have the eyes open. 

 Mr. Hose further states that the mother often carries her 

 young one about in her mouth, after the manner of a Cat. 

 On the second day after its birth, the infant Tarsier can move 

 about by itself. By the natives of Sumatra, and, indeed, of 

 most of the islands inhabited by these animals, the Tarsiers 

 are held in superstitious dread, their presence in the neighbour- 

 hood of the rice-fields being supposed to portend misfortune 

 to the owner or to some member of his family. 



Their elongated ankle-bones, and their leaping habits, seem 

 to indicate that the Galagos and the Chirogales, or Mouse- 

 Lemurs, are the nearest relatives of the Tarsiers. 



THE TYPICAL LEMURS. FAMILY LEMURID^E. 

 Under this family heading are included the whole of the 

 remaining members of the Sub-order. They all possess certain 

 main characters in common ; but on account of the presence or 



