88 



THE PROSIMIANS. 



these creatures reaches, they sleep by day 

 rolled up in dark hiding-places, but by night 

 become very active and lively, climbing and 

 jumping about in search of their food, which 

 consists chiefly of all sorts of fruits, but partly 

 also of insects, eggs, and small birds. The 

 pottos living in the Zoological Gardens in 

 London caught birds introduced into their 

 cage very dexterously, tore them instantly 

 into pieces, and appeared to be very well 

 satisfied with this sort of food. 



The Galagos {Galagonida). 



The members of this family are large-eared, 

 long-tailed, African forms, constituting only 

 a single genus (Otolicnus or Galago), but 

 one which comprises a pretty large number 

 of species. The largest species {Otolicnus 

 {Galago) crassicatidatus), the Grand or Thick- 

 tailed Galago, attains a length of about 12 

 inches exclusive of the tail, which measures 

 15 or 16 inches; most of the other species 

 are at most 8 inches long. They inhabit the 

 forests of tropical Africa from Zanzibar to 

 the Guinea Coast. 



A thick soft woolly fur covers the whole 

 body. The tail is covered with thicker and 

 stififer hairs. The ears, nose, hands, and 

 feet are naked. 



On the round almost catlike head, in which 

 there are large eyes with oval pupils contract- 

 ing by day to narrow vertical slits, we are at 

 once struck by the large naked ears with 

 rims or borders on the inner edge. By night 

 these ears are expanded in the form of paper- 

 cornets, but by day and in a state of rest are 

 rolled up so as entirely to stop the sense of 

 hearing. The body is small and weak, the 

 hind-legs much longer arid stronger than the 

 fore-legs. The two chief bones of the ankle, 

 the calcaneum and the scaphoid, are so 

 elongated as to measure half the length of 

 the lower leg; the digits are long and power- 

 ful, and all except the second digit of the 

 hind-foot, which carries a claw, provided with 



flat nails. The second digit of the fore-foot 

 (the index, or so to speak, fore-finger) is 

 shortened, but carries a small nail. Although 

 the female is said to bring forth only one 

 young one at a birth, it has three pairs of 

 teats. The young one is carried about by 

 the mother clinging to her body. 



I"ig. 32. — The Angwantibo (Airlocehus calabarensis). page 87. 



The dentition indicates rather an animal 

 than a vegetable diet. In the upper jaw 

 there are on each side two chisel-shaped 

 vertical incisors separated by a gap, while in 

 the lower jaw there are three incisors on 

 each side placed horizontally. The canines 

 arc sharp, furrowed, and curved ; the adjacent 

 premolars, both above and below, almost of 

 the same form and size as the canines. Next 

 follow in the upper jaw one, in the lower jaw 

 two single-cusped premolars, and then in the 

 upper four, in the lower three molars with 

 three or four pretty sharp cusps, and besides 

 these, in the largest species, sometimes a 



