206 LEMURS. 



smaller, and are partly concealed by the fur, as is shown in our figure of the head 

 of one of the species. Their skin is of a deep black ; but the general colour of the 

 fur is usually white, more or less tinged with yellow, and, in some individuals, 

 passing into red or even black. The fur on the breast is always much thinner 

 than that of other parts of the body. 



Three species of the genus are recognised, which are restricted to different 

 parts of the island; but of these species there are several more or less distinct 

 races, which are likewise confined to particular localities. It has been observed 

 that while those individuals of the several species which tend to assume a black 

 coloration are found in the damper parts of the island, those which are most com- 

 pletely white frequent the drier regions at the northern extremity of Madagascar. 

 The sifakas, as Grandidier observes, live in bands of from six to eight 

 individuals. They are completely diurnal in their habits, and may be observed at 



morning and evening, when the heat is not 

 too great, leaping in the forests from tree 

 to tree in search of food. At sunrise they 

 may often be seen sitting on the horizontal 

 bough of a tree, close to where it branches 

 off from the main stem, with their long legs 

 bent, so as to touch their chin, and their 

 hands resting on their knees. At other 

 times they will be seen sitting in the same 

 position, but with their arms extended, so as 

 to receive the genial warmth from the 

 rising sun on their bodies. During the heat 

 of the day they conceal themselves in the 

 HEAD OF VERREAUX'S siFAKA. After Grandidier. depths of the foliage. When sleeping, they 



incline the head forwards on the chest, and 



cover it with their arms; at the same time the tail is either curled up spirally 

 between the legs, or allowed to hang straight down. 



Their shelving lower front teeth are admirably adapted for removing part 

 of the rind of the fruits on which they so largely subsist, and thus making an 

 aperture through which the pulp is removed piecemeal. The skins of the fruits are 

 always rejected; and it is stated that sifakas exhibit a marked preference for 

 green rather than ripe fruit. \ 



In all ways they are admirably adapted for a purely arboreal life. So 

 strong indeed are their hind limbs that they can readily take leaps of from ten 

 to eleven yards in passing from bough to bough ; and so rapid are their motions 

 that Grandidier speaks of them as appearing to fly rather than leap. On the 

 rare occasions when they descend from their favourite trees, they advance by 

 means of long leaps, as owing to the shortness of their arms it is not easy for them 

 to walk on the ground on all-fours like the majority of monkeys. To see them, 

 observes Grandidier (from whom the whole of this account is taken), resting on 

 their hind feet, and at each leap throwing up their arms in the air, the spectator 

 might be led to think for a moment that he was looking at children at play. 

 Indeed, a troop of these creatures advancing across the plains in the manner 



