LEMURID.E 685 
every part of the island of Madagascar, living in the woods in small 
bands of six or eight together, and feeding exclusively on buds, 
flowers, and berries. Their powerful hind limbs enable them to 
leap from tree to tree, often to a distance of 10 yards, without any 
apparent effort, and thus seeming to fly through the air. When 
obliged to descend to the ground to pass from one clump of trees 
Fic. 325.—Indris (Indris brevicaudata). From Milne-Edwards and Grandidier, 
Mammiferes de Madagascar, pl. 12. 
to another they do not run on all fours, but stand erect, and 
throwing their arms above their heads progress by a series of short 
jumps, producing an effect which is described by travellers who 
have seen them thus in their native haunts as exceedingly ludicrous. 
They are not nocturnal, but most active in the morning and even- 
ing, remaining seated or coiled up among the branches during the 
heat of the day. They are naturally of a quiet and gentle disposi- 
tion, and do not show much intelligence. All the species are also 
less vociferous than the true Lemurs, only when alarmed or angered 
