90 



THE PROSIMIANS. 



animal food, especially insects and birds. 

 The dentition shows the same number of 

 teeth as that of the galagos, but is dis- 

 tinguished from the latter by the fact that, 

 in the upper jaw the outer incisor is much 

 smaller than the inner, and that there is one 

 premolar more and one molar less. Dental 



formula — : — : — - — 



= 36 teeth. 



The Slow-paced 

 Lemur or Slender 

 Loris [Sienops gra- 

 cilis), fig. 34, which 

 inhabits Malabar, 

 Madras, and Cey- 

 lon, has a body of 

 at most 10 inches 

 in length, a round 

 head scarcely separ- 

 ated from the body 

 by the thick neck, 

 rounded slightly 

 hairy ears, and large 

 round owl-like eyes, 

 so near one another 

 that the nose, which 

 is pointed in such 

 a manner as to 

 give the creature a 

 rather impudent 



look, forms only a narrow partition between 

 them. The body is small and weak, the 

 abdomen contracted, the limbs long and thin, 

 the hind ones much longer than the fore ones, 

 the hands and feet long and narrow, the 

 thumbs and great toes short, but powerful 

 and far apart, the second digit of the hand 

 (the fore-finger) short, that of the foot armed 

 with a claw. 



The little animals sleep by day in a very 

 singular position, rolled up into a ball, with 

 their head between the hind-legs, often hang- 

 ing like sloths to a branch of a tree. After 

 sunset they wake up, .set themselves to rights, 

 and proceed slowly and deliberately with 



Fig. 34. — Tlie Slow-paced Lemur or Slender Ix>ris [SUnops gracilis) 



inaudible steps after their plunder. They 

 climb cleverly, but with great caution, always 

 testing with the hand or foot before they take 

 hold or pass from one branch to another. 

 The fingers and toes, which are provided 

 with flat nails, have rather broad cushions 

 below, which appear to cling to foreign sur- 

 faces. It appears 

 to be quite indif- 

 ferent to the loris 

 whether they move 

 about on the bran- 

 ches or suspended 

 from them. Their 

 eyes gleam brightly 

 in the dark. When 

 a loris catches sight 

 of its prey, it first 

 looks long and 

 steadfastly at it, 

 then crawls slowly 

 up, and finally, with 

 a sudden leap, seizes 

 it with its hand, and 

 if it is a bird, bites 

 through its head in 

 order to regale itself 

 on the brain, which 

 forms its favourite 

 food. Like all noc- 

 turnal animals, these 

 also are accused by the natives of all sorts of 

 misdeeds, and are tortured to death in every 

 imaginable way. The plump loris, abundant 

 both in the island of Sumatra and on the 

 mainland, is, indeed, much larger and more 

 powerfully built than the previous species, 

 but appears to be even plumper than it is on 

 account of its thicker fur. In captivity they 

 appear to be stupid, lazy, tedious creatures. 



The following interesting account of a slow- 

 paced lemur kept by Sir William Jones, the Orien- 

 talist, in India, is contained in the fourth volume 

 of the Asiatic Researches: — 



" In his manners he was, for the most part, gentle, 

 except in the cold season, when his temper seemed 



