THE LEMURS— LARGE-EARED MARIS. 



71 



All the Galagos, which are inhabitants of Africa 

 and some of its islands, must be looked upon as 

 carnivorous, unlike the other Makis, for they eat 

 fruit but incidentally. To describe them, I will 

 draw on my own and Kersten's experience : " The 

 Galagos are nocturnal animals, in the full sense of 

 the word : beings for whom the moon takes the place 

 of the sun, and for whom day passes unnoticed ; 

 for then these animals lie curled up and sleeping in 

 some hiding-place, their eyes shut to the hated sun- 

 light and their ears furled up to shut out all noise. 

 If they arc rudely awakened, their eyes first assume 

 a dreamy, far off look, then the creatures gradually 

 regain consciousness and show their displeasure at 

 having been disturbed. After sunset they are alto- 

 gether different. As soon as the forest is enveloped 

 in darkness, the Galago wakes up, roused perhaps 

 by the coolness of the air ; the tail which has been 

 curled around his head is 

 rolled back, the eyes are 

 opened and his ears, which 

 have been so folded as to 

 completely cover the orifice 

 leading into the inner ear, 

 are unfurled. He licks and 

 cleans his fur, leaves his 

 hole and begins his ghost- 

 ly work, which, when its 

 results are reviewed in the 

 day-time, is seen to con- 

 sist of nothing but murder 

 and robbery, marked not 

 only by insatiable thirst 

 for blood but also by a de- 

 gree of cruelty rarely to be 

 found in animals. With 

 all the characteristics of a 

 beast of prey, Lynx-eyed, 

 sharp of hearing like a Bat, 

 as acute in his sense of 

 smell as a Fox, and quite 

 as cunning though not so 

 clever as that animal, 

 agile like a Monkey, in- 

 creasing the infallible pre- 

 cision of his attack by his 

 boldness, the Galago is a 

 formidable foe for all very 

 little animals, therein dif- 

 fering from all his rela- 

 tives." 



These words narrate 

 nearly everything that is known about the life of 

 the Galagos in the wild state, and it will not be 

 easy to learn more, as they are extremely difficult 

 to observe in the night. 



Accounts of Among the few known species of 



the Common the Large-eared Makis, the largest 

 Galago. f whom equals a Rabbit in size, the 



smallest barely exceeding the average Mouse, we 

 will first consider the Common Galago (Otolicnus 

 galago), a graceful animal, about the size of a Squir- 

 rel. His upper parts are gray, the under parts yel- 

 lowish-white ; the ears are flesh-colored and the eyes 

 brown. 



This species of Galago is a native of a large part 

 of Africa. Adanson discovered him in Senegambia 

 and later travelers observed him in South Africa 

 and the Soudan. In this latter country I found him 

 myself, but always to the west of the White Nile. 

 The natives know him well under the name of Tendj. 



Their belief is that he was originally a Monkey, but 

 became degraded through his sleepiness. We al- 

 ways found him in mimosa forests, usually in couples. 

 The animals we saw were sleeping on branches near 

 the trunk, and always awoke at the sound of our foot- 

 steps. When we came too near, they dexterously 

 climbed up the tree, never fleeing, but always sitting 

 down and watching us with a certain degree of con- 

 fidence as to their safety. They knew admirably, 

 how to avoid the many sharp thorns of the mimosas, 

 and they could leap considerable distances. We 

 were told that at night they were very agile, and 

 that then their eyes blazed "like living fire," to use 

 the expression of the natives. It is said that the 

 Common Galagos can be easily caught in traps ; and 

 during the day-time good climbers need only use 

 their hands to make the capture. The hunter only 

 has to shake the bough upon which the animal is 



f /-h 



SLOW LORIS LEMUR. This peculiar animal, which is also known as " Bashful Billy," is chubby and 



ponderous, as the picture shows, its large and heavy limbs making its movements so sluggish as to fully justify its 

 name of "Slow." The brown rings that always surround its large eyes are well brought out in the picture, and the 

 figure in the background shows the stumpy tail, scarcely an inch long. (Stenops tardigradus.) 



sitting to make the frightened creature cling to it in 

 fear of falling, and then it can be easily seized. 

 I believe myself that this mode of capturing Gal- 

 agos is a good one, for I have often caught young 

 Squirrels in this way. 



The Comba, The Large-eared Maki, living in 

 His Traits and Zanzibar and called Comba by the 

 Uses. natives {Otolicnus agisymbanus), ex- 



ceeds the Galago in size, his length being about 

 twelve inches, exclusive of the tail, which measures 

 ten inches. The prevailing color is yellowish or 

 brownish gray ; the large, nearly bald ears are gray. 

 Kersten tells us that the Comba is caught in a very 

 simple manner in Zanzibar. He is not hunted but 

 falls a victim to his "sweet tooth." Notwithstand- 

 ing his avidity for blood, it appears that he does not 

 despise sweet things ; on the contrary, he is as fond 

 of them as only Monkeys and a few rodents can 

 be. "When palm wine is being manufactured," so 



