350 Animal Lite 
takes out, either by swinging 
open on hinges like a door, or 
by tightly fitting into the body 
of the cage and being fastened 
by bolts so that the animal is 
unable to play with them to get 
them undone. ‘This method is 
much better than having a fixed 
front and small doors which open 
into the cage, either at the back 
or sides, as they are usually 
made sufficiently loose to permit 
a draught working through. ‘The 
wire front can be of very strong 
wire netting of an inch or an 
EYAOH® OY) SAAN inch and a half mesh. ‘The size 
Lewis Medland, F.Z.S. SS SSE Ba Aaya cage depends Gaetine space 
YELLOW WHISKERED LEMUR. 
the owner can spare, but the larger 
the better; four feet in width, two feet from back to front, and six feet in height 
is the most useful size. It must be placed indoors. And here let me remark that 
for animals or birds that suffer from variations in temperature, an ordinary sitting-room, 
where they are usually placed, is about the most unsuitable place that can be selected, 
and for this reason: in cold weather during the daytime the temperature of the room, 
owing to the closed doors and windows and the nicely-burning fire, is comfortable and all 
that can be desired; but when the family retires to rest the lights are turned off and the 
fire, after an hour or two, goes out, with the result that the temperature of the room 
falls from perhaps 80° to something like 40° F., and in very cold weather to much less. 
The temperature of the room does not rise again to its former level until an hour or two 
has passed, so that whatever is living in the room passes about twelve hours a day during 
the winter months at about 70° to 80° F., and the other hours at a temperature some- 
where near freezing-point, and then people wonder what gives their pets chills! If a lemur 
or any other creature to which variations in temperature are serious is kept in a room, 
care must be taken to see that the temperature remains the same, or within five degrees, 
during the whole of the twenty-four hours—that is, by night as well as by day. 
A sleeping-box about eighteen inches square should be arranged at the top of 
the cage, with a small branch of a tree placed diagonally against it from the floor 
so that the lemur can have a little exercise. This retiring-box can be filled with 
sweet hay and the floor of the cage covered with the same, as these animals are 
very curious in their ways, forsaking the proper sleeping-box provided and curling 
themselves up on the floor for several days in succession until the fit takes them to 
again use the box. Swings and mirrors and the other usually necessary adjuncts to 
a monkey's cage are not needed for lemurs, as they are not given either to admiring 
themselves in looking-glasses nor to disporting themselves on swings. ‘The food- 
vessels need not be of metal for these creatures, and white china is preferable, as the 
lemurs are very careful and gentle and rarely break a china vessel. 
Cleanliness with lemurs is an imperative factor, and the cage and food-vessels must 
be cleaned out every day and the floor scrubbed with boiling water and a disinfectant 
soap once a week. This must be done by seizing an opportunity when the lemur is asleep 
in its retiring-box, so that the floor can be dried before it comes down. ‘The drying can 
be expedited by strewing hot sawdust over the floor after it has been wiped as dry as 
possible with a cloth; this sawdust can be used over and over again for the purpose. 
