322 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



We shall likewise confine ourselves to such facts as may 

 be deduced from the latest and best authenticated sources ; 

 avoiding, for the sake of brevity, the repetition of particu- 

 lars, however amusing, to be met with in popular writers, 

 and omitting to notice, otherwise than in the table ap- 

 pended, many which are designated by different writers as 

 distinct species, though probably mere accidental varieties, 

 or differing only in sex. 



The dwarf Lemur, or Maki nain, mentioned by Cuvier 

 in a note, presents very strong analogies to the Makis pro- 

 perly so called ; and at the same time exhibits characters 

 peculiar to himself, and remote from them. His short 

 muzzle, round head, and mode of life, altogether noc- 

 turnal, indicate a nature a little different from that of 

 these animals, and though he should not be separated from 

 them to be placed as another genus, he ought certainly to 

 form the type of a group to which in all probability some 

 species yet to be discovered may be united at a future 

 period. Like most others of the tribe, this Lemur is found 

 in Madagascar. His organs of locomotion are similar to 

 theirs, even to the very crooked nail of the second finger of 

 the hind hands. His tail is not so well furnished with hair. 

 His ears are well rounded, but without helix ; they have 

 a tragus and ante-tragus. His eyes are very large and with 

 round pupils. The nostrils are surrounded with a sort of 

 broad muzzle, on the sides of which they open, and they 

 are more advanced than the jaws. The tongue is soft. All 

 the body except the muzzle and extremities of the limbs 

 are covered with a thick fur, composed entirely of hairs of 

 a silky appearance, strongly figured, which form a clothing 

 for the animal equally soft and light. The fore-head, the 

 hinder part of the head, the upper part of the neck, the 

 shoulders, and the upper part of the arms ; the back, sides 

 of the body, the crupper, the thighs, the legs, and the en- 



