6 ALLEN’S NATURALIST’S LIBRARY, 
3 
as well as in the Philippine Islands. The form from the last- 
named localities (figured on Plate III.) has generally been 
recognised as JV. javanicus,; but, from a careful examination of 
the material in the British Museum, it appears to the present 
writer that the specimens from all these localities merge so in- 
sensibly into each other that it is impossible to separate them 
into distinct species. ‘The Slow-Loris, though occurring on the 
north-eastern frontier of India, has not yet been discovered 
in the Himalayas. 
Habits—Like the Slender Loris, the Slow-Loris is arboreal 
and nocturnal, hardly differing in its food and general habits 
from the latter. It lives alone or in pairs, and moves about 
very slowly, with its head curiously drawn up close to its body, 
with the latter arched and its limbs very angularly disposed. 
Colonel Tickell, has observed it, however, to raise itself on 
its hind-legs and throw itself upon an insect. It is generally 
silent, but can utter a low growl when angry. In captivity it 
becomes docile, but is never very long-lived. ‘Tickell records 
that ‘it never by choice leaves the trees. . . . It climbs 
readily and grasps with great tenacity. If placed on the ground, 
it proceeds, if frightened, in a wavering kind of trot, the limbs 
placed at right angles. It sleeps rolled up in a ball, its head 
and hands buried between its thighs, and wakes up in the dusk 
of the evening to commence its nocturnal rambles.” Another 
observer records: ‘‘ When he climbs he first lays hold of the 
branch with one of his hands and then with the other. When 
he has obtained a firm hold with both hands, he moves one 
of his hind-paws, and after firmly grasping the branch with it, 
he moves the other. He never quits his hold with his hind- 
paws until he has obtained a secure grasp with his hands.” The 
remarkable tenacity of grasp in its feet is largely due to the auto- 
