5 8o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



looking for me, his bright yellow eye pressed eagerly against the 

 wires, in the corner nearest the side I came to. The instant he 

 saw me he uttered a mocking grunt, which plainly said, " Thought 

 you'd surprise me, eh ? " and began a violent weaving and coax- 

 ing to get out. Perhaps he was thus wide awake because he 

 seemed really to fear being alone, and to dread the dark. The 

 moment he was left in the room the spirit of mischief departed, 

 and he retreated to the top of his cage, where he remained till 

 some one came in. The dusk, with its shadows, always alarmed 

 him, and, when taken into a strange room, he cowered and clung 

 to his friend as if frightened out of his wits. Fond as was the 

 lemur of society, he was exceedingly nervous about it. When he 

 heard a person coming through the hall, he first ran to the end 

 of a sofa nearest the door ; as the steps approached, he grew more 

 and more uneasy ; and, when the hand touched the door-knob, he 

 yielded to wild panic, bounded to the other end of the sofa and 

 over the back, where he held by one hand, while his body dangled 

 behind. His great sensitiveness showed also in another way — he 

 never met a human eye with his own. He saw every expression 

 of the face, but he always looked just beyond it. He violently 

 objected to being stared at, turned his head away, and, if his head 

 were held between two hands for the purpose of looking in his 

 face, he got away, either by a sudden spring to the top of the 

 head of his captor or by wriggling himself out backward. His 

 wool-covered body was the most elusive in the world to hold. 



But, although the little fellow would not look one squarely in 

 the face, he saw everything that happened, and was as inquisitive 

 as any monkey. He liked to sit before the window and look at 

 passers-by, both beast and human ; a cat aroused him to the point 

 of expressing his mind, and he saluted her by a short, sharp bark. 

 A bugle that was brought out with the hope of curing him of too 

 great familiarity with the person of the owner, proved, on the 

 contrary, to be a special lure. He rose on his hind-legs — which he 

 did with perfect ease — and thrust his nose into the large end, evi- 

 dently to find the sound. Once happening to get possession of 

 the instrument when its guardian was absent, the lemur made a 

 thorough examination of it. He pulled it on to the floor, threw 

 his body across it, embracing it with his legs to keep it in place, 

 and then proceeded to push his head almost out of sight into the 

 big end, take the small end in his mouth, as if to blow, and to 

 make minute and careful study of every part of it, until fully 

 satisfied that whatever he sought was beyond his reach, when he 

 abandoned it. 



The intelligence of the creature was notable. He knew his own 

 blankets instantly wherever he saw them, and was quite positive 

 that no one had a right to touch them ; he learned his name read- 



