64 MAMMALIA. 



varied with large patclies of black on a pure white ground. Tliey average the size of a large Cat, but have longer 

 limbs ; and have all long tails, which are elevated in a sigmoid form, when in motion, and not trailed after them. 

 They are nocturnal or twilight animals, which sleep by day in a ball-like figure, perched on a bough ; are gentle 

 in disposition, and easily tamed ; but have much less intelligence than the Monkeys, and are without the prying, 

 mischievous propensities of those animals : their ordinary voice is a low grunt, but they often break forth into a 

 hoarse abrupt roar, producing a startling effect ; in their native forests they frequently thus roar in concert.] 



The Indris {Lichanotus, lUiger) — 

 Have teeth as in the preceding, except that there are only four [two] lower incisors [the central pro- 

 bal)ly soon falling. Then- hinder limbs are extremely long ; the head broad, muzzle short, and hands 

 long.] 



But one species is known, without tail [this appendage being reduced to a tubercle], three feet in height, blacky 

 with the face grey, and white behind (Lemur indri, Lin., Indris brevicaudatus, Geof.), which the inhabitants 

 of l\Iadagascar tame, and train to the chace like a Dog. The Long-tailed Indri (Lemur laniger, Gm.) needs 

 further examination. 



[The latter appears to be very intimately allied to a species, with a naked face, named Propithecus diademn 

 by Bennett, (Mocromerus tijpicus, Smith,) the systematic characters of which seem hardly to warrant its separa- 

 tion from the Indris. Both are natives of Madagascar, and it is doubtful whether the present genus should not 

 precede the last. Tlie Short-tailed Indri is the most human -like of its tribe. 



The Macaucos {Microcehus, Geof., Galayoides, Smith) — 

 Have the head round; muzzle short and pointed; ears moderate and erect; the fore-limbs small: four 

 incisors above, the central larger ; also four below, with similar projecting canines, as in Lemur ; the 

 upper canines are small and pointed ; and the first inferior false molar is scarcely larger than the 

 next : the cheek-teeth indicate a partly insectivorous regimen. Their scrotum is disproportionately 

 large. 



Two small species are known : the Murine Macauco (Lemur murinus, Pen .), which is Buffon's Rat of Madagascar ; 

 and the Brown Macauco (3/. pusillus, Geof. ; also Galago madngascariensis, Geof., G. demidaffii, Fischer, and 

 OtoUcnus madagascariensis, Schinz). The Lemur cinerens, Geof. and Desm. (Petit Maki, Buft'.), may perhaps con- 

 stitute a third. These little animals have much the aspect, and also the manners, of a large Dormouse, which they 

 further resemble in nestling in the holes of trees, which serve them for a dormitory : during day they sleep rolled 

 up in a ball, and only rouse from their torpor on the approach of twilight, but are then extremely agile and lively. 

 Of their habits in a state of nature we know little, except that they are arboi-eal.] 



The Lokis {Stenops, Illiger) — 

 Have the teeth of the Lemurs, except that the points of their grinders are more acute ; the short muzzle 

 of a mastiff; body slender ; no tail ; large approximating eyes; the tongue rough. They subsist on 

 insects, occasionally on small birds or quadrupeds, and have an excessively slow gait : their mode of 

 life is nocturnal. Sir A. Carlisle has found that the base of the arteries of the limbs is divided into 

 small branches, [anastomosing freely with each other,] as in the trne Sloths, [the object of which 

 appears to be to enable them to sustain a long continuance of muscular contraction. The same cha- 

 racter occurs, however, in the Cetacea]. 



Only two species are known, both from the East Indies; the Short-limbed Loris (Lemur tardigradus, Lin.), 

 and the Slender Loris (L. gracilis) : the former has been made a separate genus of by Geoffroy, who styles it 

 Ni/cticcbus ; but he is wrong in asserting that it has only two incisors in the upper jaw : the latter is remarkable 

 for the disproportionate elongation of its limbs, and especially of its fore-arms. [These most singular animals 

 are eminently liocturnal and arboreal, being incommoded by daylight ; they are also very susceptible of cold, 

 which makes them dull and inanimate. During the day, they sleep clinging to a branch, with the body drawn 

 together, and head sunk upon the chest ; at night they prowl among the forest boughs in quest of food. 

 Nothing can escape the scrutiny of their large glaring orbs : they mark their victim, insect or bird, and cautiously 

 and noiselessly make their advances towards it, until it is within the reach of their grasp ; they then devour it on 

 the spot, previously divesting it, if a bird, of its feathers. When rousing from their diurnal slumbers, they 

 delight to clean and lick their full soft fur; and in captivity will then allow themselves to be caressed by those 

 accustomed to feed them : they are remarkable for extreme tenacity of grasp. 



The Pottos {Perodicticus, Bennett) — • 



Have comparatively small eyes ; the ears moderate and open : dentition approaching that of the Lemurs ; 

 tail moderate ; limbs equal ; the index finger of the anterior hands (fig. 5) little more than rudimentary. 



