MAMMALIA. 
64 
varied with larg’e patches of black on a pure white ground. They average the size of a large Cat, but have longer 
limbs ; and have all long tails, which are elevated in a sigmoid form, when in motion, and not trailed after them. 
They are nocturnal or twilight animals, which sleep by day in a ball-like figure, perched on a bough ; are gentle 
in disposition, and easily tamed ; but have much less intelligence than the Monkeys, and are without the prying, 
mischievous propensities of those animals : their ordinary voice is a low grunt, but they often break forth into a [ 
hoarse abrupt roar, producing a startling efffect ; in their native forests they frequently thus roar in concert.] 
The Indris {Lichanotus, Illiger) — 
Have teeth as in the preceding, except that there are only four [two] lower incisors [the central pro- 
bably soon falling. Their hinder limbs are extremely long ; the head broad, muzzle short, and hands |i| 
long.] 'll 
But one species is known, without tail [this appendage being reduced to a tubercle], three feet in height, black , ■:!: 
with the face grey, and white behind {Lemur indri, Lin., Indris brevicaudatus, Geof.), which the inhabitants I 
of Madagascar tame, and train to the chace like a Dog. The Long-tailed Indri {Lemur laniger, Gm.) needs 
further examination. 
[The latter appears to be very intimately allied to a species, with a naked face, named Propithecus diadema 
by Bennett, {Macromerus typicus, Smith,) the systematic characters of which seem hardly to warrant its separa- 
tion from the Indris. Both are natives of Madagascar, and it is doubtful whether the present genus should not 
precede the last. The Short-tailed Indri is the most human -like of its tribe. 
The Macaucos {Microcebus, Gepf., Galagoides, Smith) — 
Have the head round ; muzzle short and pointed ; ears moderate and erect ; the fore-hmbs small : four 
incisors above, the central larger ; also four below^, with similar projecting canines, as in Lemur ; the 
upper canines are small and pointed ; and the first inferior false molar is scarcely larger than the 
next ; the cheek-teeth indicate a partly insectivorous regimen. Their scrotum is disproportionately 
large. 
Two small species are known : the Murine Macauco {Lemur murinus, Pen .), which is Buffon’s Rat of Madagascar ; 
and the Brown Macauco {M. pusillus, Geof. ; also Galago madagascariensiSf Geof., G. demidaffii^ Fischer, and 
Otolienus madagascariensis, Schinz). The Lemur cinereus, Geof. and Desm. {Petit Maki, Buff.), may perhaps con- 
stitute a third. These little animals have much the aspect, and also the manners, of a large Dormouse, which they 
further resemble in nestling in the holes of trees, which serve them for a dormitory : during day they sleep rolled 
up in a ball, and only rouse from their torpor on the approach of twilight, but are then extremely agile and lively. 
Of their habits in a state of nature we know little, except that they are arboreal.] 
The Loris {Stenops, Illiger) — 
Have the teeth of the Lemurs, except that the points of their grinders are more acute ; the short muzzle 
of a mastiff; body slender ; no tail ; large approximating eyes; the tongue rough. They subsist on 
insects, occasionally on small birds or quadrupeds, and have an excessively slow gait : their mode of 
life is nocturnal. Sir A. Carlisle has found that the base of the arteries of the limbs is divided into 
small branches, [anastomosing freely with each other,] as in the true Sloths, [the object of which 
appears to be to enable them to sustain a long continuance of muscular contraction. The same cha- [ 
racter occurs, however, in the Cetacea]. 
Only two species are known, both from the East Indies ; the Short-limbed Loris {Lemur tardigradus, Lin.), 
and the Slender Loris {L. gracilis) : the former has been made a separate genus of by Geoffrey, who styles it 
Nycticebus; but he is wrong in asserting that it has only two incisors in the upper jaw : the latter is remarkable 
for the disproportionate elongation of its limbs, and especially of its fore-arms. [These most singular animals 
are eminently nocturnal and arboreal, being incommoded by dayUght ; they are also very susceptible of cold, i 
which makes them dull and inanimate. During the day, they sleep clinging to a branch, with the body drawn 
together, and head sunk upon the chest ; at night they prowl among the forest boughs in quest of food. 
Nothing can escape the scrutiny of their large glaring orbs : they mark their victim, insect or bird, and cautiously 
and noiselessly make their advances towards it, until it is within the reach of their grasp ; they then devour it on ^ 
the spot, previously divesting it, if a bird, of its feathers. When rousing from their diurnal slumbers, they '' 
delight to clean and lick their full soft fur ; and in captivity will then allow themselves to be caressed by those 
accustomed to feed them : they are remarkable for extreme tenacity of grasp. 
The Pottos {Perodicticus, Bennett) — 
Have comparatively small eyes ; the ears moderate and open : dentition approaching that of the Lemurs ; j 
tail moderate ; limbs equal ; the index finger of the anterior hands (fig. 5) little more than rudimentary. 
