696 MR. F. E. BEDDARB ON THE [June 16^ 



attention or have been altogether passed over by the authors 

 mentioned, largely doubtless by reason of the apparent unim- 

 portance of those facts at the time when the memoirs in question 

 were written. Sir Richard Owen found himself obliged to 

 vindicate the Lemurine affinites of Chiromys from assertions of 

 its Rodent affinities by comparing it definitely with Sciurus. 

 Though this is no longer necessary, certain obviously Lemurine 

 characteristics of Chiromys have not been sufficiently emphasised 

 either by Owen or by his successors. With these and with some 

 other points I propose to deal in the present communication. 



Intestinal Tract. — The gut is figured by both Owen* and 

 Oudemanst, but neither of these figures is at all satisfactory.. 

 I therefore take the present opportunity of refiguring (in text- 

 fig. 150) a portion of the gut which shows not merely the charac- 

 teristic ansa coli (flexura coli, colic loop) of Chiromys madagas- 

 cariensis, but certain mesenteric attachments which are of 

 importance in the mor-phology of the intestinal tract of mammals- 

 Divergent in its general structiire from other Lemurs though 

 Chiromys may be, the intestinal tract points unmistakably to its 

 affinity with the genera Lemur and Hajxdeviur, probably with 

 the subfamily Lemurinae. Chiromys possesses in fact, as do those 

 genera t, a single ansa coli which is a flexure of the colon shortly 

 after its emergence from the caecum. The two limbs of this loop 

 were, as in Lemur, closely applied to each other and the loop as a 

 whole was fully as long as — pei'haps even rather longer than — tlie 

 loop in the genus Lemur. The loop was pei-fectly simple and 

 U-shaped, as is shown in the figure (text-fig. 150), and there was 

 no approach to the spiral of the Galagininae, Lorisinse, and 

 Indrisinse. 



Thei-e is some indication in Oudemans' figure of this loop ; but 

 it is not properly represented ; and the various mesenteric- 

 attachments which are of importance from the point of view of a 

 comparison with other forms are omitted altogether. 



As text-figure 150 shows, the omentum is attached to the 

 region of the colic loop where it bends to the left to become 

 the straight portion of the transverse colon. Furthermore, 

 as in some other Lemurs at any rate (there is not at present 

 accurate information with regard to the simple forms Micro- 

 cehus and Cheirogaleus), there is an attachment between the 

 duodenum where it leaves the stomach and the colon where it 

 dips down to form the proximal limb of the ansa coli. This is 

 also shown in my figure to which I have just referred. The 

 duodenal attachment is of limited extent, and the omentum is 

 like that of some other forms in that it is only modified as a 

 bridge between the stomach and the colon for a portion of the 

 duodenal region of the former, and as already said for a very 



* IjOC. cit. pi. 26. figs. 1, 2. t Loc. cit. pi. iii. fig. 14. 



t Eor iemwr see Flower (Med. Times & Gazette, 1872), Mitchell (Trans. Zool. 

 Soc. vol. xvii.), Beddard (P. Z. S. 1908, p. 577) ; for Hapalemur, Klaatscli (Morph. 

 Jahrb. xviii. p. 667). 



