THE SIFAKAS. 99 



orange-yellow. Hands black-haired to the ends of the fingers, 

 but with long and yellow tufts of hair at the tips. Feet pale 

 orange and haired to the nails. Chest dark brown. Under 

 surface white, or white tinged with yellow, or dark brownish- 

 grey. Internal face of the fore-limbs grey, from the inter- 

 mixture of black hairs ; that of the hind-limbs pale yellow. 



Young Similar in colour to the adults, but lighter; the fron- 

 tal band yellow, not white ; limbs light yellow. 



Varieties. Several varieties of this species the "Simpona" 

 of the natives have been described, of which the following 

 deserve special notice : 



THE SILKY SIFAKA. PROPITHECUS SERICEUS. 



Face black, with flesh-coloured spots ; the body entirely 

 white, faintly washed with yellow ; the base of the tail 

 washed with rust-red. It is of the same size as the type- 

 form, and appears to be only an albino variety. Specimens 

 showing every gradation in coloration between that of the type 

 and the absolute albino are now well known. This form, how- 

 ever, is more or less restricted to the narrow belts of forest on 

 the eastern side of the mountains in the north-east of Mada- 

 gascar, between the rivers Lokoi and Bemarivo, a region con- 

 terminous with that inhabited by the typical species. 



MILNE-EDWARDS' SIFAKA. PROPITHECUS EDWARDSI. 



Differs from the true P. diadema in having the face slightly 

 haired between the eyes and on the chin ; a patch on each 

 flank rufous-white or orange-yellow, separated by a reddish- 

 black band; a spot at the root of the tail bright rusty-red, 

 and all the rest of body black, washed slightly with rufous. 

 The young are like the parents. This form is also of the 



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