160 LEMUR 



dwell among the rocks in the south and southwest portion, and are not 

 arboreal. Their hands (hands and feet?) have long, smooth, level and 

 leather like palms which give them a firm footing on the wet, slippery 

 rocks, over which they easily travel, as a fly does on a pane of glass, and 

 people, although barefooted, are unable to follow them. The thumbs 

 are smaller in proportion to those of the forest Lemurs, whose fingers 

 are suitable for grasping as they spring from tree to tree, rarely 

 descending to the ground except for water. There are very few trees 

 where the Ring-tailed Lemurs live, and these are stunted and bushy. 

 These Lemurs have two long upper fangs, longest in the males, and 

 with these they take away the outer coating of the prickly pear which 

 is full of fine spines, and which forms their principal food, as it grows 

 abundantly in the crevices and around the foot of the rocks. In sum- 

 mer they feed on various kinds of wild figs and bananas. The fangs, 

 (canines), are doubtless used for self defence, although when fighting 

 they depend chiefly on their hands, with which they scratch and 

 strike, and a male has been seen to whip a dog larger than itself by 

 these means. They are very easily tamed, and will eat almost any kind 

 of fruit, but no cooked meat ; cooked rice however, they can be induced 

 to eat. They do not drink in the wild state, as is proved by native state- 

 ments, and from the fact of their abstaining for a month or more when 

 in captivity, and living on bananas during that period. The Lemurs 

 living on the west, including two species of white Lemurs, (Propithe- 

 cus), subsist without water, but those on the east invariably drink 

 when feeding. 



There is no difference in appearance between the sexes. 



Lemur vareegatus Kerr. 



Lemur macaco variegatus Kerr, Anim. Kingd., 1792, p. 86, No. 98. 



Lemur macaco (nee Linn.), Schreb., Saugth., 1775, pi. XLB 

 Audeb., Hist. Nat. Singes et des Makis, 1797, p. 16, pis. V 

 VI; Shaw, Genl. Zool., I, 1800, p. 112; E. Geoff., Ann. Mus 

 Hist. Nat. Paris, XIX, 1812, p. 159; Desm., Mamm., 1820, p 

 87; Fisch., Syn. Mamm., 1829, p. 75 ; Wagn., Schreb., Saugth 

 Suppl., I, 1840, p. 266; V, 1855, p. 142; Gerv., Hist. Nat 

 Mamm., I, 1854, p. 166. 



Lemur varius I. Geoff., Cat. Primates, 1851, p. 7; Dahlb., Stud. 

 Zool. Fam. Reg. Anim. Nat., fasc. I. 1856, pp. 213, 217; 

 Schleg., Mus. Pays-Bas, Simise, 1876, p. 301 ; Anders., Cat. 

 Mamm. Ind. Mus. Calc, 1881, p. 91, Pt. I; A. Milne-Edw. 

 et Grandid., Hist. Nat. Madag.. 1890. Atl., II, pis. CXXIII, 



