30 NYCTICEBUS 



Geogr. Distr. Chittagong through Arakan as far south as Trin- 

 ganu, Lower Siam ; coast region of Sumatra ?. 



Genl. Char. Darker than N. c. cinereus and smaller, upper in- 

 cisors, 2-4. 



Color. General hue brownish with a rusty tinge ; head markings 

 tawny ; dorsal line seal brown to tawny ; under parts cream buff ; hands 

 and feet yellowish. 



Measurements. Total length, 328; tail, 16; foot, 61. Skull: total 

 length, 68.8 ; occipito-nasal length, 67.5 ; Hensel, 49.6 ; zygomatic 

 width, 43 ; intertemporal width, 19.2 ; palatal length, 19.2 ; median 

 length of nasals, 16.4 ; length of upper tooth row, 37.2. 



Capt. Flower, writing of the Siamese form under the name of 

 tardigradus, states that in captivity this species will eat bananas, 

 mangoes, and bread and milk. It is also very expert at catching small 

 birds; and climbs about at night with considerable speed. "At one 

 time," he writes, "I used to sleep in a hammock swung in a veranda 

 close to a cage of 'Kongkangs', and when lying awake on moonlight 

 nights had good opportunities of observing their habits. They could 

 squeeze through the bars of their cage (though I never could make 

 out how they got their bodies through such narrow openings as there 

 were) and roam about ; usually they were back in the cage by daylight ; 

 sometimes they remained absent a day or two, and on one occasion two 

 individuals never returned to me. One kept by itself, made a nice 

 interesting pet, but when there were more than one, I found they would 

 resent being handled and bite ; their bite may be very severe as I know 

 from painful experience, but the stories of its being dangerously 

 poisonous to human beings, are hard to believe. The young are carried 

 under the mother's belly, holding on tight by all four hands, until they 

 almost equal her in size. Many strange powers are attributed to this 

 animal by the natives of the countries it inhabits ; there is hardly an 

 event in life to man, woman or child, or even domestic animals, that 

 may not be influenced for better or worse by the Slow Loris, alive or 

 dead, or by any separate part of it, and apparently one cannot usually 

 tell at the time, that one is under its supernatural power. Thus a 

 Malay may commit a crime he did not premeditate, and then find that 

 an enemy had buried a particular part of a Loris under his threshold, 

 which had, unknown to him, compelled him to act to his own dis- 

 advantage. Its fur is used to cure wounds, and a sailing ship with a 



