774 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



except the hallux, which has a flat nail. As far as is yet known, 

 the Cheiromys is entirely confined to Madagascar. 



The family of the Tarsiidce includes only the singular Tar- 

 sius spectrum of Borneo, Sumatra, Celebes, and Banca, remark- 



Fig. 450. Skull of the Aye-aye (Cheiromys), viewed laterally and from 

 the front. (After Owen.) 



able for the extraordinary elongation of the hands and feet. 

 It has a long tail, and is arboreal in its habits. 



In the Nycticebidtz are the Loris and the Slow Lemurs, in 

 which there is no tail, or but a rudimentary one ; the limbs are 

 nearly equal in size ; the ears are short and rounded, and the 

 eyes are large, and are placed close together. The species of 

 this family are all of small size, and are exclusively confined to 

 the eastern portion of the Old World, occurring in Java, Ceylon, 

 the southern parts of Asia, and other localities in the same 

 geographical area. They are nocturnal in their habits, living 

 mostly on trees, and feeding upon insects ; and from the slow- 

 ness with which some of them progress, they are sometimes 

 spoken of as " Slow Lemurs." The best-known species are 

 the Slender Loris (Loris or Stenops gradlis) of Ceylon, and 

 the Nycticebus tardigradus of the East Indies. Here also 

 belong the " Potto " (Perodicticus] of Sierra Leone, in which 

 the index-finger is rudimentary, and the Arctocebus of Old 

 Calabar, in which this digit is completely wanting, and the 

 tail is rudimentary. 



The largest and most important of the families of the Strep- 

 sir hina is that of the Lemurida or Lemurs. In this family the 

 muzzle is elongated, the feet are all furnished with opposable 

 thumbs, and the nails on all the toes are flat, with the excep- 

 tion of the second toe of the hind-foot, in which there is a long 



