QUADRUMANA. 



G5 



Fig. 5.— Hand of Potto. 



^H^.^. 



Geoffrey's Potto ( Lemur potto, Lin. ; Galago Gniniensis, Desm. ; 

 P. Geoffroyi, Ben.)— From Sierra Leone ; a slow-moving and retiring 

 animal, wliich seldom makes its appearance but in tlie night-time, 

 and feeds on vegetables, chiefly the Cassada.] 



The Galagos {OtoUcmis, Illig.) — 

 Have the teeth and insectivorous regimen of tlie Loris ; the 

 tarsi elongated, Mhich gives to their hinder limbs a dispro- 

 portionate extent ; tail long and tufted ; large membranous ears 

 [which double down when at rest, as in some Bats] ; and 

 great eyes, which indicate a nocturnal life. [The index, as well 

 as the thumb of the anterior hand, inclines in some to be op- 

 posable to the other fingers.] 



Several species are known, all from Africa ; as the Great Galago (Galago 

 crassicaudatus, Geof.), as large as a Rabbit ; and the Senegal Galago (G. 

 Senegalensis, Geof.), the size of a Rat. The latter is known as the Gun 

 animal of Senegal, from its feeding much on that production. [Tliese pretty animals have at night all the activity of 

 birds, hopping from bough to bough, on their hind limbs only. Tliey watch the insects flitting among the leaves, 

 listen to the fluttering of the moth as it darts through the air, lie in wait for it, and spring with the rapidity of an 

 •arrow, seldom missing their prize, which is caught by the hands. Tliey make nests in the branches of trees, and 

 cover a bed with grass and leaves for their little ones : are a favourite article of food in Senegal. A species larger 

 than the others has lately been received alive, O. Garnottii of Ogilby.] 



The Malm AGS (Tarsius) — • 

 Have the tarsi elongated (fig. 6), and all the other details of form as in the preceding ; but the interval 

 between their molars and incisors is occupied by several shorter teeth [that is, then- upper canines are 

 very small ; and] the middle upper incisors are elongated, and re- 

 semble canines. [There are but two permanent lower incisors, and the 

 inferior canines present more of the ordinary form and direction.] Their 

 muzzle is very short, and their eyes still larger than in any of the fore- 

 going. [Tail very long, and almost naked.] Are also nocturnal ani- 

 mals, and insectivorous ; inhabiting the Molluccas. 



[Two species are known, T. spectrum, Geof., (Lemur tarsius, Shaw ; T. fusco- 

 maiius, Fischer,) and the T. bancanus of Horslield. It is observed by GeofiVoy 

 that although the Mahnags have the external ears nmch less dereloped than in 

 the Galagos, this inferiority is counterbalanced by the far greater volume of the 

 auditory bullte of the temporal bones, which are so developed as to touch 

 each other; and thus the sense of hearing is, by another mode, rendered 

 as acute in the former as in the latter. The Malmag has an aversion to light, 

 and retires by day under the roots of trees ; feeds chiefly on Uzards, and leaps 

 about two feet at a spring ; is easily tamed, and capable of some attachment ; 

 _ holds its prey in its fore-hands, while it rests on its haunches ; produces one 

 \, young at a birth, and lives in pairs.] 



Travellers should search for certain animals figured by Commerson, 

 Rif. 6.-F001 of the Maimaj. and which Gcoffroy has engraved {Ann. Mus.\\\. 10), under the name of 



Cheirogales {Cheirogaleus). 

 These figures seem to announce a new genus or subgenus of Quadrumana. [Three species are re- 

 presented in Commerson's drawing, all of which appear to be now authenticated by specimens. Their 

 proportions are those of the Galagos ; dentition as in the Mahnags, except that they retain all their 

 inferior incisors ; the head is round, the nose and muzzle short, lips furnished with whiskers, the eyes 

 large and approximate, and the ears short and oval ; the nails of the four extremities are compressed 

 and somewhat claw-Uke, and the tail is long, bushy, and regularly cylindrical. 



Tliree or more species are known, all from the great island of Madagascar. They constitute the division 

 Lichaiios of Gray. 



The singular genus Cheiromys, also, from the same pecuhar locality, which is arranged by the 

 author among the liodentia, would appear to have much better claim to be introduced here, and near 



