SIFAKAS. 207 



described, is said to be a truly ludicrous sight. Not only are the hands of the 

 sifakas of 110 use to their owners in walking, but they are almost equally useless 

 as organs of prehension; and when a sifaka has occasion to pick up a fruit from 

 tin- Around, he will usually stoop down and seize it in his mouth. When conveyed 

 to the hand, such an object is grasped between the bent fingers and the palm, 

 and not between the fingers and thumb. As purely grasping organs, adapted to 

 afford a firm hold to the branches of trees, both the hands and feet of these lemurs 

 are, however, perfect. 



In disposition the sifakas are described as being gentle, and they but seldom 

 attempt to bite, while if they do so the wound they inflict is not serious. At 

 certain seasons, however, the males are wont to engage in contests among them- 

 selves, the results of which are frequently visible in their torn and tattered ears. 

 Unlike many other lemurs, they are, as a rule, silent; but when frightened or 

 angry they give vent to a low cry somewhat resembling the clucking of a fowl. In 

 a word, so far as character goes, these animals may be described as being but little 

 active, but little restless, and but little intelligent. 



The diademed sifaka (P. diadema), known to the natives of 

 Diademed Sifaka. . v . 



Madagascar as the simpona, is the largest or the three species, and 



at the same time the one which was first brought to the notice of science, having 

 been described by E. T. Bennett in the year 1832. It takes its name from the band 

 of white hairs running across the forehead, which, with the grey fringe of hair on 

 the cheeks and chin, surrounds the black face, and thus gives to the animal a 

 peculiar and striking physiognomy. The crown and back of the head, together 

 with the outer surface of the ears and the nape of the neck, are a dark brown 

 colour, and the same tint extends over the shoulders, so as to give somewhat the 

 appearance of a mantle, and ends in a point on the back; this point in some 

 individuals being only just below the neck, while in others it reaches as far back as 

 the loins. Occasionally this dark mantle-like area, instead of being dark brown, is 

 of a grey tint. The loins and flanks are generally grey, varying considerably in 

 different individuals ; the grey passing gradually into the brown of the back and 

 the orange round the tail, and extending on to the upper parts of the arms, or even 

 enveloping the whole of the upper arm. The fore-arms, together with the region 

 round the tail and the legs, are generally of a bright orange yellow, although 

 occasionally yellowish-white with some intermixed black hairs. The hands are 

 mainly black, but the feet have a good deal of yellow in them ; the basal half of 

 the tail is yellowish, while the rest of it is grey. 



Such are the colours of the typical form of this species. In the moist regions 

 of the south of Madagascar there is, however, a nearly or quite white race of this 

 lemur, while in the dry regions of the north there is a black race ; in each case 

 intermediate forms occurring which connect these varieties with the ordinary 

 type. 



The diademed sifaka inhabits the narrow strip of forest-land extending along 

 the whole length of the eastern coast of Madagascar, and bordering the chain of 

 granite and slaty mountains which dips down towards the sea on the east, and is 

 the cause of almost daily rain. It is where this chain almost dies out at the 

 northern end of the island that the black race occurs. 



