APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. 31 



mental. While the fore and hind-limbs are of nearly equal length, the ankle- 

 joint is not specially elongated, the thumb and great-toe . . 

 diverge widely from the other digits, and the tail is sliort or , y ,"^\^ 

 rudimental. In the female there are only two teats, which a^ndx"^' T 

 are situated on the breast. So great is the divergence of the "* 

 great-toe that it is commonly directed backwards. ISfone of these lemurs are 

 found in Madagascar. 



The lorisis, or slow lemurs, which are confined to the Oriental countries, 

 and have no external tail, but a perfect, although small, index finger, are 

 divided into the two genera iVi/cticefons and Loris ; the former being char- 

 acterised by the inner pair of upper incisor teeth being considerably larger 

 than the outer, and the comparative stoutness of tlie limbs ; whereas in the 

 latter both pairs of incisors are very small and of equal length, and the 

 limbs are very long and slender. The slow lorises, as the members of the 

 first genus are called, range over the Malayan countries to Cochin-China, 

 while the slender loris is confined to Southern India and Ceylon. Both types 

 are small creatures, with very large eyes, slow in their movements, omni\'or- 

 ous in their diet, and purely nocturnal. 



In West Africa the lorisis are represented by two nearly allied animals 

 known as pottos, in which the index finger is reduced to a mere tubercle 

 without a nail ; the tail being sharp or rudimental. Tiie 

 larger of these is the true potto {PerodicticAis putto), the ,„ °r°r a 

 awantibo (P. calahareiisis) of Old Calabar being a rather ™ "^ «^"^J- 

 smaller and more delicately made animal, with the index finger and tail more 

 rudimental tliati in the former. In their movements the pottos are even 

 slower than the lorises. 



The second family of the Lemuroids is constituted by the two or three 



species of tarsier, all of which are included in the single n.„_.jgj.„ 



genus Tarsius, and range from the Malayan countries to Family 

 Celebes and the Philippines. Rather smaller than an Tarsiidce. 

 ordinary squirrel, the tarsiers may be recognised by their 

 enormous eyes and ears, long, thin, and 

 tufted tail, and long, slender limbs, in which 

 the ankle-joint is greatly lengthened. They 

 have 34 teeth ; and their dentition difi'ers 

 from that of the tj'pical lemurs in that tlie 

 first pair of upper incisor teeth are in con- 

 trast with one another in the middle line, 

 aiid that the anterior lower premolar is not 

 tusk-like. Tarsiers live on insects and 

 lizards, in search of which they may be 

 seen on moonlight nights hopping on the 



boughs of trees in a curiously frog -like 



jjjjjj^jjgj. "^ Fig. 16.- Tarsier ^Tarsms spectrum) 



The last of tlie existing lemurs is the remarkable aye-aye (Ghiromys 

 madagascariensis) of Madagascar, which likewise constitutes 

 a family by itself. It is about the size of a cat, and is dis- Aye-Aye.— Family 

 tinguished from all the rest of its tribe by the structure of its Ghiromyidce. 

 teeth, which are singularly like those of the Rodents ; each 

 jaw having a single pair of chisel-like incisors in front, followed after an 

 interval by the blunt cheek-teeth. The fore-paws are very large, with all the 

 fingers long and slender, but the middle, or third one, much more attenuated 



