A SPECTER OF THE WOODS 
tropical regions mentioned, especially Madagascar, where the 
stock seems to have originated, and where they have never had 
many active enemies. 
Lemurs are distinguished from the monkeys (Anthropoidea) 
by the openness of the bony socket of the eye, the elongated 
jaws, giving a foxlike aspect to the face, the sim- 
plicity of the brain, and other anatomical features 
betokening a lower grade of structure and intelligence. The 
group falls very naturally into three families: Tarsiide, Chi- 
romyide, and Lemuride, of which the first and second con- 
tain only one species each, 
and the third and lowest all 
the remainder, i.e. the le- 
murs proper, or “ half-apes.”’ 
The spectral tarsier, rep- 
resenting the first family, is 
a most extraordinary little 2 
creature, inhabiting the low- 
land forests of the islands 
from Sumatra to the south- 
ern Philippines, where it is 
called “‘malmag.’”’ It is no 
larger than a small rat, is light brown, has a large head with 
immense brown eyes, a short muzzle, pricked-up ears, and 
a comical grinning expression on its broad face. The tail is 
long and tufted. The hind legs are longer than the front ones, 
owing to the greatly lengthened heel bones (tarsi); and these 
and all the paws are hairless, and terminate in long bony 
digits which have pads beneath their ends. By these pads the 
animal is enabled to climb smooth bamboos, like a tree frog, 
which it resembles in its way of sitting, and in its gait on the 
few occasions when it descends from the tree tops. It lies hid- 
den during the day in some hole in a trunk or under the roots 
of a tree, and at night hunts for insects or lizards, especially the 
E 49 
Malmag. 
MALMAG, OR TARSIER. 
