LEMUR 161 



CXXIX; Forbes, Handb. Primates, I, 1894, p. 68; Elliot, Cat. 



Mamm. Field Columb. Mus., VIII, 1906, p. 543, Zool. Ser. 

 Maki-vari Coquer., Rev. Mag. Zool., 1859, p. 462. 

 Varecia varia Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1863, p. 136 ; 1872, p. 



853 ; Id. Cat. Monkeys, Lemurs and Fruit-eating Bats, Brit. 



Mus., 1870, p. 70, fig. 

 Lemur macaco griseo-maculatis Fitzing., Sitzungsb. Metth. Nat. 



Akad. Wiss. Wien, 1870, p. 619. 



RUFFED LEMUR. 



Type locality. Madagascar. 



Geogr. Distr. North eastern Madagascar from Adenpone to Cape 

 Masoala at the entrance of Antongil Bay, and into the interior to 

 Bengoa. 



Genl. Char. Color black and white, and variable in the extreme in 

 the arrangement; apparently purely individual. Tail thick, long; ears 

 hidden in fur ; chin naked ; coat thick and woolly. 



Color. Excessively variable. Possibly the most usual style has the 

 nose black on top, the sides covered with short yellowish white hairs ; 

 cheeks, forehead, top of head, neck, upper back, arms to elbows, wrists, 

 outer edge of thighs, ankles, inner side of limbs, under parts, hands, 

 feet and tail black ; rump, flanks, outer side of thighs, and legs to ankles 

 white. In some examples there is a white collar around the neck 

 beneath the head, and the hind neck is white down to the lower back, 

 and this is often tinged with orange or deep buff ; but the extent and 

 distribution of these two colors varies so greatly that it is practically 

 impossible to find two individuals alike. 



Measurements. Skull : occipito-nasal length, 99 ; Hensel, 89 ; 

 zygomatic width, 59; intertemporal width, 40; palatal length, 44; 

 medium length of nasals, 31 ; length of upper molar series, 30; length 

 of mandible, 39 ; length of lower molar series, 35. 



Coquerel states, (1. c.) that this animal is considered sacred by the 

 natives of Tamatave, and they say it worships the sun, and prays to it 

 every morning. This idea doubtless comes from a habit this Lemur 

 has in common with the Mococo. An individual of this species which 

 he had in captivity, at the first rays of the sun appearing sat up on its 

 hind legs and remaining erect, would open and extend the arms holding 

 them in this position while looking at the sun, as if its vivifying in- 

 fluence would by this action be received within itself. One, seeing 

 Lemurs in European menageries, would obtain no idea of the activity 

 they display in their native wilds, or of the grace of their movements 

 and their incredible agility in the Madagascar forests, as they launch 



