SLOW LEMUR. 89 
hoppers; and passed the whole night, wliile the 
hot season lasted, in prowling for them : when a 
grasshopper, or any insect^ alighted within his 
reach, his eyes, which he fixed on his prey, glowed 
with uncommon fire; and having drawn himself 
back to spring on it with greater force, he seized 
the prey with both his fore-paws, but held it in 
one of them, while he devoured it. For other pur- 
poses, and sometimes even for that of holding his 
food, he used all his paws indifferently as hands, 
and frequently grasped with one of them the 
higher part of his ample cage, while his three 
others were severally engaged at the bottom of it; 
but the posture of which he seemed fondest was 
to cling with all four of them to the upper wires, 
his body being inverted ; and in the evening he 
usually stood erect for many minutes, playing on 
the Avires with his fingers, and rapidly moving his 
body from side to side, as if he had found the 
utility of exercise in his unnatural state of con- 
finement. A little before day-break, when my 
early hours gave me frequent opportunities of ob- 
serving him, he seemed to solicit my attention ; 
and if I presented my finger to him, he licked or 
nibbled it with great gentleness, but eagerly took 
fruit, when I offered it; though he seldom ate 
much at his morning repast : when the day 
brought back his night, his eyes lost their lustre 
and strength, and he composed himself for a 
slumber of ten or eleven hours. 
III. The names of Loris and Lemur will, no 
doubt, be continued by the respective disciples 
