210 



LEMURS. 



evening. Like their allies, they are sluggish in their movements, and but seldom 

 descend to the ground, and, when they do so, they walk in the same peculiar manner 

 as the sifakas. 



The avahis are found in two parallel bands of forest on the east side of 

 Madagascar, and also in the woods of a small area on the north-west. They are, 

 however, totally unknown on the west and south coasts, where the vegetation and 

 climate are totally different. The members of the colony on the north-west coast 

 are of smaller size and somewhat different coloration from those on the east side of 

 the island. From their smaller size and nocturnal habits the avahis are less noticed 

 by the natives of Madagascar than are the other members of this group, and do not 

 figure conspicuously either in their legends or in their superstitions. The name avahi 

 is the one by which they are known to the Antanala tribe. By other tribes they are, 

 however, termed Ampongi, Fotsi-fe, or Fotsi-afaka; the two latter terms respectively 

 meaning " white legs " or " white fork," in allusion to the peculiar coloration of the 

 hinder parts of these animals. 



THE TRUE LEMURS. 

 Genus Lemur. 



With the true lemurs, which are likewise confined to the island of Madagascar, 

 we come to the first of a group differing in several respects from those already 



noticed. The first and most 

 easily recognised feature by 

 which the true lemurs and their 

 allies may be distinguished 

 from the group containing the 

 indri and the avahi, is that the 

 toes of the foot are not con- 

 nected together at their bases 

 _i B by a web. In none of those 



HEADS OP COMMON (A) AND SMOOTH-EARED ( B ) BLACK LEMUR. animals are the legs so long in 



(From Sclater, List of Animals in Zool. Gardens.) proportion to the arms as we 



have seen to be the case in the 



members of the preceding group ; while the whole of them have long tails. Then, 

 again, it may be mentioned that the members of this group are distinguished by 

 the presence of an additional front tooth on either side of the lower jaw, and 

 likewise by having one more premolar tooth on each side of both jaws; thus 

 bringing up the total number of teeth from thirty to thirty-six. The formula is 

 *i> C TT> P$> m %) which may be compared with that given on p. 204, as distinctive 

 of the indri group. 



The true lemurs are confined to Madagascar and the Comoro islands, 

 which are situated half-way between it and Zanzibar. Although some of 

 them are nocturnal, and others diurnal in their habits, all these lemurs differ 

 from the indri group in subsisting on a mixed diet ; insects, small reptiles, 

 birds' eggs, and the callow young of birds forming at least as important a part of 



