RING-TAILED LEMUR. 41 



brown and of warm dark red ; others are a silvery -white ; 

 one species has a curious development of hair round the face, 

 giving it the apppearance of having a pair of very bushy 

 white whiskers ; while another has a thick bushy tail banded 

 with black and white, which, when the creature is in repose, 

 is usually coiled, like a comforter, round its neck. Lemurs 

 are gentle and affectionate animals and easily tamed, and are 

 frequently kept as pets in Madagascar, being secured by a 

 long cord to a post of the verandah. Their agility is mar- 

 vellous, for they leap to considerable distances from branch 

 to branch ; so that a wood frequented by a company of them 

 is all alive with their rapid movements, and resounds with 

 their cries as they dart from tree to tree. 



The true lemurs are mostly fruit-eaters, but they are said 

 occasionally to feed also on the smaller animals found in the 

 woods : lizards, small birds, and insects. Most of them are 

 diurnal in their habits, but there are some species which are 

 chiefly nocturnal. 



One species, at least, of lemur, the Eing-tailed variety (L. 

 catta), does not live in the forests, but among the rocks, 

 where it is impossible to follow them. Mr. G. A. Shaw de- 

 scribes their hands as having long, smooth, level, and leather- 

 like palms, so that the animal can find a firm footing on wet 

 slippery rocks ; while the thumbs on the hinder hands are 

 very much smaller in proportion than those of the forest 

 lemurs, who depend upon their grasping power for their means 

 of progression. These lemurs are, therefore, an exception to 

 the general habits of the Lemuridas in that they are not 

 arboreal. Their chief winter food consists of the fruit of the 

 prickly-pear ; and they are said not to drink water. They 

 defend themselves with great spirit if attacked. Another 

 species, the Broad-nosed lemur (Hapalemur simus), is said 

 to subsist on the young shoots of the bamboo and upon 

 grass. One of the smallest species, the Brown-mouse lemur 

 (Chirogaleus milii), hibernates, making for itself a nest of leaves 

 or dry grass in hollow trees for its winter sleep. It is an 

 exceedingly pretty animal, brown in colour, but white below, 

 with large and brilliant eyes, and legs nearly equal in length, 

 so that it does not leap, like the majority of the lemurs. The 



