TARSIUS 



FAMILY 2. TARSIID/E. 



The little animals which comprise this family are about as large as 

 an ordinary rat, and possess several remarkable characteristics. In 

 their habits they are nocturnal, concealing themselves among the 

 branches of trees or bushes during the day, moving only when dis- 

 turbed and becoming very active, and exhibiting often a surprising 

 agility after the setting of the sun. They have small rounded heads 

 with enormous eyes, the pupils of which during the day are contracted 

 to a mere slit, but at night are enlarged to such a degree that they 

 cover nearly the entire iris. The fur is soft and woolly. The legs, 

 which exceed the arms in length, have long slender toes and, like the 

 fingers, are provided with sucker-like discs, which enable them to cling 

 firmly to the branches, or any object upon which the animal may alight 

 during its swift progress, which is performed by powerful leaps that 

 cover at times amazing distances for such small creatures. The tail is 

 long and tufted, and when the animal is in flight, is carried above the 

 line of the body, the end curving upward. The nails on the toes are 

 flat, except those on the second and third digits which are compressed. 

 The lower jaw has two small nearly erect incisors, but those in the 

 upper jaw are four in number and unequal, the anterior ones being the 

 largest, and there is no central gap present. 



GENTTS1. TARSIUS. THE TARSIER. 



12 — 2 s^n 1 — 1 n 3— -3 ■% jr 3-— 3 



• i=i; <~. i^i; Jr. 3=3; m. 3=^ — 34- 



TARSIUS Storr, Prodr. Meth. Mamm, 1780, p. 33, Tab. A. Type 

 Lemur iwsier Erxleben. 

 Macrotarsus Link, Beytr. Naturg., I, Pt. II, 1795, pp. 51, 65, 66. 

 Rabienus Gray, Lond. Med. Repos., XV, No. 88, 1821, p. 299. 

 Cephalopachus Swains., Nat. Hist. Class. Quad., 1835, p. 352. 

 Hypsicebus Less., Spec. Mamm., 1840, pp. 207, 253-254. 



Head rounded ; muzzle sharp and pointed ; ears long and naked ; 

 eyes large, protruding ; legs longer than arms ; toes slender, long, ter- 

 minating in sucker-like discs ; tail long, tufted. Skull : orbits very large, 



