HABITK, ETC. 101 



many of the species, tliat Liiinteus was induced to propose 

 the name of lemurs (from the Latin term for evil spirits) 

 for this group of animals — a name which, in the absence of 

 any vernacular title, has been adopted as their ordinary 

 designation. 



None of the lemurs are of large size, the length of the 

 head and body in the largest species being only about two 

 feet, and some of them are not larger than rats. They are 

 all excellent climbers, and the majority spend the day sleep- 

 ing either in the hole of a tree, in a specially constructed 

 nest, or rolled up in a ball after the manner shown in our 

 first illustration. Their food consists of leaves and fruits, 

 birds and the eggs, reptiles and insects, and occasionally 

 honey or sugar-cane ; and most of them spend the whole of 

 their time in trees, rai-ely, if ever, descemling to the 

 ground. Some of the larger species inhabicing Madagascar 

 are, however, an exception in this respect, as well as in 

 their diurnal habits, and they may sometimes be observed 

 in numbers jumping aci'oss the plains from wood to wood 

 in their own peculiar fashion, when it is necessary to seek 

 fresh food. From the structure of their brains and other 

 parts of their organization, it is evident that the lemurs 

 hold a very low place in the mammalian class, although 

 their near relatives, the raonteys and apes, occupy the 

 highest position. It is jjrobable, indeed, that the modern 

 lemurs are the descendants of the ancient ancestral stock 

 from which monkeys have originated, and since they them- 

 selves are also nearly related to the so-called insectivores 

 (shrews, moles, hedgehogs, &c.), while the latter may have 

 been directly descended from marsupials (opossums, &o. \ 

 we see how close is the connection between the very 

 highest and the very lowest representatives of the 

 mammalian class. The low position of the lemurs in 

 the zoological scale is in harmony with their antiquity 

 and their peculiar geographical distribution, and it is note- 

 worthy that both in Madagascar and in Africa lemurs are 

 accompanied by certain insectivores of a very low degree 

 of organization, and unlike those found in any other part 

 of the world. 



The limits of this essay render our notice of the various 



