SIFAKAS. 



207 



described, is said to bo a tiuly ludicrous sight. ISot only are the hands of the 

 sifakas of no use to their owners in walking, but tliey are almost ecjually useless 

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

 the ground, he will usually stoop down and seize it in his mouth. When conveyed 

 to the hand, such an object is grasped between the bent lingers and the jifdm, 

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

 atibrd 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 visiljle in their torn and tattered ears. 

 Unlike many other lemurs, the}' 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 desci'ibed as being but little 

 active, but little restless, and but little intelligent. 



The diademed sifaka (P. diadema), known to the nati\es of 



Diademed Sifaka. ... . , 



JIadagascar as the simjiona, is the largest of the three sjiecies, 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 haix's running across the foi'ehead, 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 shouldei-s, 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 <lark mantle-like area, in.stead of being dark brown, is 



of a grey tint. The hjins and flanks are generally grey, varying considei'ably in 



diflferent individuals ; tlie 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, altliough 



occasionally yellowish-white with some intermixed black hair.s. 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 tj^ical 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 striji of forest-land extending along 

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

 granite ami slaty minintains 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. 



