103 



RING-TAILED LEMUR. 



Lemur Catta. L. caudatus, canda albo nigroque annulata* Lin. 



Syst. Nat. p. 45. 

 Long-tailed Lemur, with the tail annulated with black and 



white. 

 Mococo. Buff. 13. p. 174. pL 22. 

 The Maucauco. Ed<w. ph 197. 



Ring- tailed Lemur. Museum Lever ianutn. No. 6. p. 43. pi. II. 

 Ring-tailed Macauco. Pennant 'Quadr. I. p. 230. 



This is by far the most beautiful animal of the 

 genus. Its size is that of a small cat, but of a 

 more slender shape : its colour is a pale greyish- 

 brown, with a slight cast of ferruginous on the 

 back and outsides of the limbs : the under parts 

 of the body are whitish. The nose black: the 

 eyes bright orange-hazel, surrounded by a dis- 

 tinct circle of black : the hands and feet black ; 

 the fingers and toes furnished with round nails. 

 The tail is very long, and beautifully marked 

 throughout the whole length with distinct circles 

 of black and white: the fur on the whole animal, 

 but more particularly on the tail, is very fine, soft, 

 and suberect in its growth, so as to give a greater 

 degree of thickness to the tail than if it grew in 

 a more oblique direction. The manners of this 

 species are gentle and lively: it possesses the 

 highest degree of activity, and its motions have 

 an ease and elegance surpassing almost every 

 other quadruped. In their native state these ani- 

 mals live in society, and are seen in troops of 

 thirty or forty together in the woods, where they 



