94 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



THE AVAHI LEMURS. GENUS AVAHIS. 

 Avahi, Jourdan, C. R., Journal 1'Inst., ii., no. 62, p. 231 



(1834). 



Avahis, Milne-Edwards and Grandid., Hist. Nat. Madag., 

 Mamm., i., p. 320 (with full synonymy). 



This genus is monotypic, containing but a single species, 

 whose characters include necessarily those of the genus. 



I. THE WOOLLY AVAHI. AVAHIS LANIGER. 



Lemur laniger, Gm., Syst. Nat., i., p. 44, no. 10 (1788). 



Microrhynchus laniger, Jourdan, These inaug. Soc. Phys., Gre- 

 noble, 1834; Mivart, P. Z. S., 1866, p. 151, pi. xv. 



Avahis laniger, Milne-Edwards and Grandid., Hist. Nat 

 Madag., Mamm., p. 325 (with full synonymy), Atlas, pis. 

 9, 10. 



(Plate X.) 



Characters. Fur woolly; the head nearly round; the face 

 short in proportion to the head ; muzzle short, covered with 

 hair ; the nose and region of the chin hairy ; nose-pad on lip 

 large ; nostrils opening into a cavity on the upper lip below 

 the skin. Eyes large, the pupil vertical ; ears small, concealed 

 in fur. Tail a little longer than the body ; body short, stumpy. 

 Third, fourth and fifth fingers flattened ; third and fourth toes 

 united by a membrane as far as the first joint. 



Cranium more vaulted and the muzzle remarkably shorter 

 than in the genera Indris and Propithecus ; eye-sockets very 

 large ; the space between the eyes hollow. Temporal ridges 

 not uniting into a single median ridge. Nasal bones projecting 

 as far as the front end of the very small pre-maxillary bone 

 Lower jaw remarkably deep and broad behind ; line of union 

 of its two halves nearly half the length of the jaw, and in a 



