Lemurs.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



51 



ness for warmth ; their thick fur indeed sufficiently 

 proves their impatience of cold. During the day 

 the Aye-Aye conceals itself in its secluded retreat, 

 some hole or excavation, whence it issues forth on 

 the approach of darkness in quest of food ; its diet 

 consists of buds and IVuits, together with insects 

 and their larvae ; for the latter it searches the cre- 

 vices and bark of trees, drawing them forth by 

 means of its long finger, and so conveying them to 

 its mouth. Sonnerat kept his specimens alive for 

 two months, feeding them upon boiled rice, in tak- 

 ing up which they used then- long slender fingers, 

 much in the same manner as the Chinese do their 

 chop-sticks. Sonnera* remarks that, during the 

 whole of the time these animals lived, he never ob- 

 served them set up their long bushy tail, like a 

 squirrel, but that, on the contrary, it was always 

 kept trailing at length. 



Considering the length of time that has inter- 

 vened since the discovery of the Aye-Aye by Son- 

 nerat, and visited as the island of Madagascar has 

 been by Europeans, it is somewhat strange that no 

 additional specimens should have been obtained, 

 and that not a single notice of a living individual 

 haviuf been seen or captured should have appeared. 



Genus Galeopithecus. This genus contams those 

 strange animals the Colugos, called Flying Lemurs, 

 Flying Cats, Flying Foxes, &c., by voyagers. The 

 first notice of the Colugo is by Bontius, who terms 

 it " Vespertilio admirabilis." It was afterwards 

 figured by Seba, under the name of Felis volans 

 Ternatanus : Linnaeus subsequently placed it among 

 the Lemurs under the title of Lemur volans. Cu- 

 vier places it at the end of the Bats. The query 

 then at once arises, to what group is the Colugo to 

 be referred ? M. Geoffroy, wlio denies its relation- 

 ship to the Bats, observes that it is still less a 

 Lemur, and that its head is altogether that of a true 

 " Carnassier." Notwithstanding this authority, in 

 our views its affinities, intermediate as they may be 

 between the Lemurs and other groups, place it 

 within the pale of the Lemurine family. 



213. — The Colugo 



is an animal of the size of a cat, furnished with an 

 extensive parachute consisting of a lateral mem- 

 brane, not only between the anterior and posterior 

 limbs, but also between the posterior limbs, so as to 

 include the tail, which is of considerable length : 

 the fingers of the fore paws are also included in this) 

 extensive membranous expansion. The whole of 

 the upper surface of the body and lateral membranes 

 is covered with woolly fur, but the under surface is 

 nearly naked. The parachute is capable of being 

 folded up ; but when on the stretch for action it 

 forms a wide expanse, not indeed endowing its pos- 

 sessor with true powers of flight, but enabling it to 

 take long sweeping leaps from tree to tree with tho 

 utmost facility. 



The general aspect of the head is Lemurine : the 

 muzzle is produced; the nostrils are lateral, naked, 

 and sinuous ; the eyes moderate ; the ears short and 

 pointed. The anterior limbs are long : the hands 

 are divided into five fingers ; the first, or thumb, 

 separated from the rest though not antagonizing 

 with them, is short ; the remaining four are nearl v 

 equal ; all are armed, not with flat nails, but with 

 large deep, hooked, sharp-edged, and retractile 

 claws. The hinder limbs slightly exceed the fore 

 limbs in length, and the feet are similar in character 

 to the fore hands. 



Fred. Cuvier gives the Dental formulaas follows: — 



4 . 0—0 , 6—6 



Incisors, - ; canines, ;, — -; ; molars, ^ — ^ = 34. 



O U — U D — D 



(Fig. 214.) Mr. Waterhouse, whose excellent paper 



on the skull of the Colugo is in the 'Zoological 



Transactions,' vol. ii., gives the dentition thus: — 



, . 2—2 0—0 , , , 2—2 



Incisors,—^—; canines, ;j — j-j false molars, 



1— X' 



2—2' 



4 4 



true molars, ;- —34. 



4 1 



The upper incisors are placed. laterally in pairs, 

 with a wide interval between each pair, occupying 

 the anterior part of the jaw : the first is small, com- 

 pressed and jagged, or pectinated ; the second is 

 simiUr, but somewhat larger. The two false molars 

 above rise up with sharp points ; the molars are 

 crowned with acute insectivorous tubercles. Tho 

 lower incisors are deeply and finely pectinate. (Figs. 

 216, 218, Nos. 4 and u.) The canines are serrated. 



Some naturalists have considered the species of 

 Colugo to be three ; while Fischer and others 

 recognise only one, varying in colour according to 

 age or sex. It has, however, been demonstrated by 

 Mr. Waterhouse, from a rigorous investigation of a 

 series of skulls, that there are two distinct species, 

 and at one of the scientific meetings of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society of London (Oct. 1838) he pointed out 

 the ^llstingul»hing characteristics. 



He remarked, that in systematic works three 

 species of the genus Galeopithecus are described, 

 founded upon differences of size and colour : as 



regards the latter character, he had never seen two 

 specimens which precisely agreed ; and with re- 

 spect to size, the dimensions given of two out of 

 the three species are, he observed, evidently taken 

 from extremely young animals. Mr. Waterhouse 

 then proceedecl to distinguish the two species on the 

 table, and proposed for them the specific names of 

 Temminckii and Philippinensis. 



The first and larger species measured about two 

 feet in total length, and its skull was two inches 

 eleven lines and a half in length. The anterior 

 incisor of the upper jaw is broad, and divided by 

 two notches into three distinct lobes; the next in- 

 cisor on each side has its anterior and posterior 

 margins notched ; and the first molar (or the tooth 

 which occupies the situation of the canine) has its 

 posterior edge distinctly notched. This tooth is 

 separated by a narrow space, anteriorly and pos- 

 teriorly, from the second incisor in front and the 

 second molar behind ; the temporal ridges converge 

 towards the occiput, near which, however, he ob- 

 served, they are separated usually by a space of 

 about four lines. This is probably the Galeopi- 

 thecus volans of authora; but the identity cannot 

 be said to be certain. 



The second species, G. Philippinensis, was de- 

 scribed by Mr. Waterhouse as being usually about 

 twenty inches in length, and its skull as measuring 

 two inches seven lines in length. He observed, that 

 this species may be distinguished from C. Tem- 

 minckii by the proportionately larger ears, and the 

 greater length of the hands. The skull, too, he de» 

 scribed as narrower in proportion to its length, the 

 muzzle as broader and more obtuse, and the orbit 

 as smaller. The temporal ridges, he remarked, 

 generally meet near the occiput, or are separated by 

 a very narrow space. The anterior incisor of the 

 upper jaw is narrow, and has but one notch ; the 

 next incisor on each size is considerably larger, 

 longer, and stronger than in G. Temminckii, and dif- 

 fers moreover in having its edges even : the same 

 remark applied to the first false molar. In this 

 species the incisors and molars form a continuous 

 series, each tooth being in contact with that which 

 precedes and that which is behind it. But Mr. 

 \Vaterhouse concluded by observing that the most 

 important difference perhaps which exists between 

 the two species in question consists in the much 

 larger size of the molar teeth in the smaller skull, 

 the five posterior molars occupying a space of ten 

 lines in length, whereas in G. Temminckii, a much 

 larger animal, the same teeth only occupy nine 

 lines. Several minor points of distinction existed 

 besides those here mentioned. (,' Zoological Pro- 

 ceedings,' 1838 ; and sec further, 'Zoological Trans- 

 actions,' vol. ii. p. 335.) 



If the reader will turn to Figs. 215, 216, 217, 218, 

 he will be enabled to compare the form of the ikuil, 

 and the variations in the characters of the teeth 

 presented by these two species respectively. Fig. 

 215 represents the skull of the Galeopithecus Tem- 

 minckii ; a, as seen from above ; b, as seen from 

 below. Fig. 216 represents the lower jaw and teeth 

 of the same species (G. Temminckii) : 1, the under 

 side of the lower jaw ; 2, side view of the same ; 

 3, the three foremost teeth on either side of the 

 upper jaw ; 4, 5, outer and inner incisors of the 

 lower jaw. Fig. 217 represents the skull of G. 

 Philippinensis: a, the upper side; i, the under 

 side. Fig. 218 represents the lower jaw and teeth 

 of the same species (G. Philippinensis): 1, under 

 side of the lower jaw ; 2, side view of the same ; 

 3, the three foremost teeth of the upper jaw ; 4, 5, 

 outer and inner incisors of the lower jaw. If these 

 skulls and teeth be compared, so many and import- 

 ant distinctions will be perceived, that all doubt as 

 to the correctness of the views entertained by Mr. 

 Waterhouse will be dissipated. 



These strange and perplexing animals are natives 

 of the Moluccas, Philippines, and various islands of 

 the Indian Archipelago. In their habits they are 

 arboreal and nocturnal, and feed, as it is supposed, 

 upon fruits, insects, eggs, and birds. During the 

 day they remain in the, depths of the forests, sus- 

 pended like a bat from the branches, with the head 

 downwards, and clinging by the hinder claws, 

 immersed in tranquil sleep. At night they rouse 

 up, are active in traversing the trees in every direc- 

 tion and sweeping from one to another with great 

 address, in search of food. Thoueh of a disagree- 

 able odour, their fleth is eaten by the natives. The 

 females are said to produce two young at a birth, 

 which adhere to the teats of their parent. Camelli, 

 in a MS. on the subject in the British Museum, 

 asserts the female to have a double abdominal 

 pouch, in which the young are carried, but in'_tj&is' 

 statement he is certainly erroneous. _, • 



FOSSIL QUADRUMANA. 



It is only very recently that the fossil relics of 

 quadrumanous animals have been discovered ; pre- 

 viously to this discovery, the Quadrumana were 

 regarded as having no fossil prototypes. In 1836 



M. Lartet announced his discovery of the fossil 

 bones of a large monkey, consisting of a lower jaw 

 with its dentition complete, a molar tooth with four 

 tubercles, a bone of one of the fingers, a portion of 

 the thigh bone, together with the bones of the 

 instep, &c. They were'found at Sanson, two leagues 

 south of Auch (in the department of Gere), in a 

 tertiary formation extending from the south of 

 Auch to the foot of the Pyrenees, and apparently 

 the result of a long succession of water alluvia. 

 From the characters of the dentition, there can be 

 no doubt that the animal belonged to one of the old- 

 world sections of the Simiae, namely, the Gibbons 

 (Hylobates), if indeed it be not the representative 

 of a genus no longer extant. M. Lartet has named 

 this fossil species Pithecus antiquus. With these 

 relics oceured those also of the Mastodon, Rhino- 

 ceros, Deinotherium, Palseotherium, &c. Within 

 the last few years the fossil relics o( three species 

 of ape or monkey have been discovered in the 

 Sewalik hills, a portion of sub-Himalayan range 

 imbedded in a tertiary stratum. Two of these 

 species are due to the researches of Captains Fal- 

 coner and Cautley, and one to the labours of Lieu- 

 tenants Baker and Duvaud. Of these fossil Simiadae, 

 one, as the fragments indicate, exceeded in size 

 any living species of the present day : the second 

 was also a large animal, superior to the Entellus mon- 

 key in size ; the third appears to have been about 

 equal to the Entellus, and was probably an Orang. 



In the basin of the Rio des Velhas in South Ame- 

 rica, Dr. Lund, a Swedish naturalist, has discovered 

 the fossil remains of extinct Quadrumana ; and it is 

 interesting to know that they belong to a form 

 clo.sely related to that of the existing American 

 monkeys termed Sapajous ; but the animals must have 

 far exceeded any living species. The larger, indeed, 

 must have been upwards of four feet in height. 

 Dr. Lund terms it Protopithecus Brasiliensis ; the 

 other, and smaller, he terms Callithrix primaevus. 

 We have then evidences of the existence of Quad- 

 rumana at a remote epoch, in continental Europe, 

 Asia, and America ; but what is more unexpected, 

 we have proofs that, at some era, they existed in 

 our island (if then an island), when, as we may 

 imagine, its surface was very different from what it 

 now appears. 



The first example, a portion of the lower jaw, 

 containing the last molar teeth, was found with the 

 teeth of sharks (in 1837) in a deep layer of whitish 

 sand, beneath a stratum of blue clay on the banks 

 of the river Deben, at Kingston, near Woodbridge, 

 in Suffolk. This bed of clay is in many places 

 overlaid by crag, and may probably be assigned 

 to the age of the London clay. In the stratum of 

 sand the fossil teeth and portions of the lower jaw 

 of an opossum were also discovered. (See ' Mag. 

 Nat. Hist.' 1839, pp. 448,450.) The extinct monkey, 

 as proved by the characters of the molar tootli, 

 belonged to the genus Macacus, oral least to a genus 

 very closely related to it. The tooth, it may be ob- 

 served, is somewhat narrower than in any recent 

 species of Macacus, but the posterior fifth tubercle 

 presents, as in most of that group, two cusps, instead 

 of being simple, as in the genus Seranopithecus. 



In the 'Annals of Natural History,' Nov. 1839, 

 Professor Owen describes a second tooth found in 

 the same locality, which he identifies as the second 

 molar of a Macaque ; and from being well worn, it 

 is evident that the individual to which it belonged 

 was aged at the time of its death. It differs from 

 the corresponding tooth of a recent Macaque, in 

 having a slight ridge along the base of the anterior 

 part of the crown, and the same character occurs also 

 in the molar previously alluded to, and which was 

 rigorously examined by the same philosophic anato- 

 mist. M. d'Orbigny's remark respecting the beds 

 above the chalk in the neighbourhood of Meudon 

 seems applicable in the present case, viz : — "that 

 in the lower part of the plastic clay, new features 

 are discovered to obtain, demonstrating in an espe- 

 cial manner, that various genera of Mammals were 

 living at the epoch when that layer was formed." 



That the Simiee should have existed in our lati- 

 tudes at the time of the deposition of the London 

 clay is not surprising, when we consider the tro- 

 pical character of the fossil fruits so abundant in 

 that deposit : we say London clay (as the geologists 

 designate it), because the blue stratum, beneath 

 which the fossil teeth were found, belongs un- 

 doubtedly to that formation. Mr. Wood, in refer- 

 ence to one of these relics, obfierves, ' As this fossil 

 certainly belongs to some quadrumanous animal, 

 there is no formation to which it could be so appro- 

 priately assigned as that of the London clay ; the 

 tropical character of the Fauna as well as the 

 Flora of that period being such as to justify an 

 assumption of a warmer climate quite suitable to 

 the existence of our macacus." Besides the teeth 

 of animals of the monkey tribe, a fragment of the 

 jaw of an opossum, in which one of the false molars 

 is retained, has been discovered in the same 

 deposit. 



H2 



