348 



Marvels of the Universe 



A TAILLESS LEMUR 



BY SIR HARRY JOHNSTON, 

 G.C.M.G. 



Nature, in the development 

 of living forms, is constantly 

 trying experiments. One of 

 these has been the fabrica- 

 tion of a marnmal which 

 might walk about erect on 

 its hind legs and use its 

 hands for other purposes 

 than locomotion. In the 

 perfect carrying out of this 

 idea i\Ian came into exist- 

 ence, and really became the 

 marvellous creature that he 

 is by using his hands and 

 fingers for manufacturing 

 and for executing many a 

 behest of the brain. This 

 idea of walking about on 

 the hind legs Irrst made its 

 appearance ages ago in rep- 

 tiles, and brought the Bird 

 into existence, as well as 

 some of the strangest Dino- 

 soiid later. saurs. It crops out again in 



the Marsupials (phalangers, opossums, kangaroos), and again makes its appearance more markedly 

 amongst the Lemurs, or Half-apes. We know now that there were Lemurs once existing in 

 Madagascar nearly as big as men in size and probably walking about erect on their hind legs, 

 one of Nature's numerous unsuccessful attempts to make a Man, and probably extinguished finally 

 by the coming of real men to Madagascar. But amongst the existing Lemurs in that strange island 

 is the one here illustrated, the Indris, largest of living Lemurs, which frequently walks and leaps 

 on its hind legs only. With these powerful limbs the Indris is able to jump from branch to 

 branch over a distance of as much as thirty feet ! When the tailless Lemurs are on the ground 

 they do not progress on all fours, but stand erect and move by a series of leaps, keeping their 

 balance by holding the arms abo_ye the head. The first toe is large, as it is in Man, but it is 

 opposable to the others, as in monkej's. The tail is only a stump four or five inches in length. 

 The thick fur is divided rather vividly into black and creamy-white areas. The range of the Indris 

 seems to be restricted to the forests of the east coast of Madagascar, where it lives in small troops 

 of four or five, probably a family of father and mother and grown-up children. 



F7to{o 6y] 



In this example the form is most 

 when growth proceeds by an extension of the 



[(/. I'urkin. 

 FROST CRYSTALS. 



like the pattern woven by lichens on a rock, 

 frinsed margins to be made more 



THE SQUID 



BY EDWARD STEP, F.L.S. 



Under the general term of Cuttle-fish at least three distinct groups of related animals are included. 

 These are the Octopus, the Sepia or true Cuttle, and the Squid. The Octopus has been described 

 already (see page 26). The Squid differs from the Octopus in that its body is cylindrical instead 



