APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 29 
InprI, and the BLack Inprr all belong to this group. 
The Sirakas, as some of these and the allied forms 
are called, are venerated by the Malagasys, who never 
kill one intentionally. Mr. Foster observes that 
“they live in companies of six or eight, and are 
very gentle and inoffensive animals, wearing a very 
melancholy expression, and being as a rule morose, 
inactive, and more silent than the other lemurs. 
They rarely live long in captivity. In their native 
state they are most alert in the morning and evening, 
as during the day they conceal themselves under the 
foliage of trees. When asleep or in repose, the head 
is dropped on the chest and buried between the 
arms, the tail rolled up on itself and disposed between 
the hind legs. The sifakas live exclusively on vege- 
table substances, fruits, leaves, and flowers, their diet 
not be- 
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.] 
BLACK LEMUR 
Found on the coast of Madagascar 
[North Finchley 
COQUEREL’S LEMUR 
A lemur which strongly objects to being awakened in the day- 
time 
lemur, and pushes out its sharp 
little face just above the thigh 
of the mother. The Woo tty 
Inprr has more woolly fur than 
the others of its tribe, a shorter 
nose, and a longer tail. 
Tue True LEmMurS 
Of these there are several 
species, all confined to Mada- 
gascar and the Comoro Islands. 
One of the best known is the 
RING-TAILED Lemur, mentioned 
above. It is called Lemur CatTAa, 
the Cat Lemur, from being so 
often kept in domestication. The 
WEASEL Lemur, the Gray Lemur, 
the Mouse Lemur, the GENTLE 
Lemur, the Sportive Lemur, the 
3 
Photo by L. Medland, F.Z,S., North Finchley 
Photo by L, Medland, F.Z.8.] 
ing varied, as in the other lemurs, by small birds, 
eggs, or insects. Their life is almost entirely 
arboreal, for which the muscles of their hands and 
feet, as well as the parachute-like folds between 
their arms and bodies, and their peculiar hooked 
fingers, are well fitted. The young one is carried 
by the mother on its back, its hands grasping her 
armpits tightly.” 
This is not the universal way of carrying the 
young among lemurs. The Crownep Lemur, a 
beautiful gray-and-white species, often breeds at 
the Zoo. The female carries its young one 
partly on its side. The infant clings tightly with 
arms and tail round the very slender waist of the 
[North Finchley 
RUFFED LEMUR 
Another of the nocturnal lemurs. It lives mainly on fruit and insects 
