n 



ORDER QUADRUMANA — GENUS LEMUR. 



to the number of about thirty. It almost invariably bears its tail ele- 

 vated. The fur is always clear and shining. 



It is of this animal that our countryman Edwards says, in his interest- 

 ing description, " I kept one in my house for some lime ; it was a very in- 

 nocent, harmless creature, having none of the cunning or malice of the 

 Monkey kind, though it has much of its shape and manner of sitting." 

 M. Geoffroy informs us that he bad traced the history of one of these 

 animals for the period of nineteen years ; hence we may conclude that it can 

 be brouglit to support the temperature of these northern climates. At 

 the same time this individual was always much annoyed by the cold ; 

 hence be often rolled himself into the shape of a ball, and covered his 

 back with his tail. In winter time his favourite resort was the fire, 

 putting out his paws to warm them. So much did be enjoy the warmth, that 

 he permitted his whiskers and face to be singed before he would retire; 

 and often he did no more than turn bis face aside. He also delighted to 

 bask in the sun. He was allowed a certain degree of liberty, and made 

 one of the workshops of the museum bis home. Here he indulged in 

 the liveliest curiosity ; unceasingly in motion, he examined, pawed, 

 overturned every thing. A shelf above the door of his chamber was 

 his bed; before retiring to rest, he regularly amused himself with ex- 

 ercise, and for half an hour jumped and danced with heart and heel; 

 this feat accomplished, he was asleep in a moment. He fed on bread, 

 carrots, and fruit, of which he was exceedingly fond. He also ate eggs, 

 and from his birth had a partiality for roast beef and brandy. He was 

 gentleness itself, sensible of caresses, familiar with every one, though 

 somewhat taciturn in his declining days ; at the same time be bad no 

 partialities, and jumped on the knees or shoulders indiflferently of every 

 visitor. 



M. F. Cuvier also studied the manners of this favourite animal ; and 

 he has recorded a few facts which we must not omit. The palm of 

 the band e.xtends, so to speak, in a straight line, bid under the hair, 

 to the middle of the fore-arm, where it reappears naked ; a somewhat 

 singular occurrence. Again, when the arm of this Lemur is stretched 

 out, its fingers are necessarily closed ; accounting for the facility with 

 which these animals hang from the branches. IVIany Naturalists have 

 fallen into the mistake that the tongue is rough like the FelincB, whereas 

 it is smooth. It is to be added, that these animals, though they never use 

 their teeth to bite or to cut, yet have the sociable instinct of using 

 them to dress the vestments of their fellows ; in fact, they use them as 

 a kind of comb ; and, finally, says M. F. Cuvier, I have been able to 

 verify the observation of Linnseus, that, when at their ease and happy, 

 they purr like the Cat. 



Though thus well known in Europe, it would appear to be very dif- 

 ferent in their native haunts. At all events, no information of their 

 native manners has been recorded. All we know on this point is 

 the remark of Flaccourt, that they live upon trees, and congregate in 

 troops to the number of thirty or forty. 



2. LEMUR MACACO.— RUFFED LEMUR. 



Syn. Le Vaki.— Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 107. 



Lemub Macaco — Linn. Gmel — GeofF. Ann. Mus Desm. Mam. 



Ruffed LEMua. — Shaw, Gen. Zoo). I. — Rl'ffed Maucauco. — Penn. 

 Quadr. L No. 151. 

 Icon. Maki Vari — F. Cuv. et Geoff. Hist. Mam. 



Le Vari Audeb. Sing — Le Vari (Var. A.) — Ibid Buff. Hist. Nat. 



XI U. pi. 27. 

 Black Maucauco. — Edw. Birds, pi. 217. 



SPECIFIC characters. 



The Hair longest on the cheeks ; varied with large black and white 

 spots ; on the tail entirely black. 



Though this Ruffed Lemur has a specific name {Macaco), very much 

 resembling a common appellation {Mococo') of the one preceding, yet 



there seems to be the widest difiference in their natural disposition, 



much greater, indeed, than in their external appearance. In its natural 

 haunts this animal appears to be quite ferocious, and Flaccourt says thev 

 are furious like Tigers, and that two of them will make a noise which 

 might pass for a hundred. They are also, he says, very difficult to tame, 

 if not captured when quite young. This character is borne out by what 

 is reported by M. F. Cuvier of one whose dispositions he had watched 

 in a state of confinement. One of these Macacos was put into a cage 

 with one of its congeners, where for a time they lived without hostility, 

 if not with much cordiality. Ere long, however, they were removed into 

 another cage, and in a different locality, upon which the Macaco mur- 

 dered his companion during the night, and devoured him all but the skin. 

 The only specific characters which have been supplied of this animal 



relate to the markings of the fur, which, after all, are by no means uniform. 

 They differ somewhat in the sexes, though confined to black and white. 

 The black prevails on the face, body, feet, and tail ; but it is strikingly 

 contrasted with the white of the back of the head, of a band, ribbon- 

 shaped, thrown across the body, and of the four limbs, mounting behind 

 over the lower part of the crupper ; the lower jaw, too, is white, and 

 there is a white band on the snout. The males alone are white 

 headed, the females superiorly being all black. The fur is remarkable for 

 its beauty ; it is very long and busby, and remarkably soft to the touch. 

 The Ruffed Lemur is about seventeen inches long, from the snout to the 

 origin of the tail ; its tail has the same dimensions. At Malmaison, where 

 Madame Bonaparte amused herself by collecting a number of objects of 

 Natural History, this species bred occasionally. The eyes of the young 

 were open at birth. 



Audebert gives a variety, founded upon trifling differences of the 

 markings ; sometimes the upper part of the body is all white. 



3. LEMUR RUBER RED LEMUR. 



Syn. Le Maki rouge. — Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 107. 



Lemur ruber Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX. — Desm. Mam Peron et 



Lesueur. 

 Icon. Maki roux femelle. — F. Cuv. et Geoff. Hist. Mam. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



The Hair of a bright reddish marrone ; the face, hands, tail, belly, and 

 the inner surfaces of the limbs, black ; a white spot on the back of the 

 neck. 



This, the most beautiful perhaps of all the Lemurs, was first noticed 

 by the able and unfortunate Commer^on during his sojourn at Mada- 

 gascar. He took a drawing of it, which lay long neglected among his 

 papers. The interesting and indefatigable Peron, again, in bis short visit 

 to the same island, was struck with the appearance of the animal, and 

 sent its fur to Paris,, where it was preserved. France had the good for- 

 tune to receive the third specimen, which has been noticed in the Annates 

 des Sciences, which animal was brought home alive in a merchant ship, 

 and in the Jardin des Plantes fell under the observation of F. Cuvier, who 

 gave a drawing and description of it in his Mammifhes. This individual 

 was a female, and probably the markings of the male are different; they 

 are, however, unknown. 



This individual is the most beautiful of the Lemurs hitherto described, 

 both from its size and shape, and also from its brilliant colouring. In its 

 general organization it resembles the other Lemurs. The upper parts of 

 the body, including the back, the sides of the body and neck, the outer 

 sides of the extremities, and the summit and sides of the head, are of a 

 beautiful chestnut-red colour ; whilst the face, hands, and feet, together 

 ■with the inner sides of the limbs, and the under parts of the neck, chest, 

 and belly, and the whole of the tail, are of the deepest black colour: there 

 is besides a broad white marking on the back of the neck, and a band of 

 the same colour over the instep and back of the head ; and the reddish 

 tint is somewhat paler round the ears. The eyes are fiiwn-coloured. M. 

 Cuvier remarks, that there are very few animals in which the colouring 

 of the under parts of the body is of a deeper shade than that of the 

 upper; and the Grison alone had previously been supposed to exhibit 

 this anomaly. 



This Red Lemur was very gentle and tame; and though very agile, it 

 was usually sad and somnolent ; it spent its days rolled up in the shape 

 of a ball, and waked up only to eat. It never emitted any cry. It was 

 seventeen inches long from the snout to the origin of the tail, which e.x- 

 tended to eighteen inches. 



4. LEMUR ALBIMANUS WHITE-HANDED LEMUR. 



Syn. Lemur aleimanus Geoff. Ann. Mus. XIX Desm. Mam. 



Lemur coLLARis. — Geoff, et Desm. ubi supra. 

 Icon. Le Mongouz. — Audeb. Sing. 



specific characters. 



The Hair greyish-brown above ; reddish marrone on the cheeks ; belly 

 white ; all the hands white. 



This animal is far from being well known ; although it has been de- 

 scribed by Brisson, from a specimen in the Museum of Reaumur, and also 

 by Audebert, under what would now be regarded the inaccurate name 

 of Mongnus (Buffon). From snout to tail it measures about sixteen 

 inches. Its snout is black ; its ears round ; the hair of the face is short, 

 and of a yellowish-grey colour, that of the temple and throat ferruginous. 

 The top of the head, neck, shoulders, back, and outer sides of the limbs, 

 are clothed with a deep brown-grey fur somewhat speckled ; that of the 



