THE LEMUROIDA . 
211 
them when wild, and enjoying their liberty in their native woods, but every visitor to the Zoological 
Gardens in the Regent’s Park may have the chance of comparing some of them with other animals. 
This comparison may be made readily at certain times, but not always, for only a few Lemurs care to 
show themselves in broad daylight, and the rest come out of their little nests in the evening. They are 
known by hairy “ hands” at the end of the arms and legs, large furry tails, slim furry bodies, long ears, 
great staring eyes, and a muzzle like that of a small Pox. At night-time, when the Baboons, Macaques, 
Guenons, and American Monkeys are at rest and asleep, the Lemurs are awake, and rushing and 
jumping here and there in their limited space ; but during the day-time, when the Monkey world is 
most giddy, with one or two exceptions the others are quiet, and if poked out into daylight look dazed 
and stupid, and are only too glad to get into darkness again. The exceptions to these habits- 
are not numerous. The Night-loving Monkey of South America comes out to look about at the 
same time as its neighbour, the Night-loving Lemur; and the Common, or Ring-tailed Lemur, is 
always ready to receive food, or to be noticed in broad daylight, as it goes to bed with monkeydom in 
general. 
The other animals with which the Lemuroida may be confounded are such as Squirrels, Weasels, 
Rats, Cats, and small Kangaroos. Some Lemuroida have a slight resemblance, in general shape, to some 
of these, and their habit of going about hopping on the hind legs tends to the general likeness ; more- 
over, in some there are front teeth greatly resembling those of the gnawing, or Rodent animals, and in 
all the back teeth are somewhat like those of insect-eating animals, or Insectivora. But a little care 
will show that all these animals are sufficiently distinct so as not to be classified with the Lemuroids 
in the same group of the animal kingdom. The fact that the Lemuroids have large thumb-like great 
toes, which enable the foot to be used as a hand, is quite sufficient to distinguish them from animals 
with paws, and all those mentioned above. 
A curious mistake was made by confounding a Lemur with the Sloth (which is never found 
out of South America, where also there are no Lemurs) in the diary of a correspondent to one of the 
most important newspapers in the world, and which was read with universal interest, and certainly 
with great amusement, dining the Ashantee War. He wrote : — 
“ Sloths (!) of the two-toed variety abound in every part of the country. At night we always heard 
them, and much discussion did they cause. The cry is somewhat like the Nubian Hyena, and I think 
no evidence appeared besides this deceiving sound to prove the existence of Hyenas on the Gold Coast. 
It is only a monosyllable, Ka, repeated in scale, at longer and longer intervals as it mounts the gamut. 
Amongst the last octaves, the creature seems bound to burst. One listened for the final notes with 
ridiculous anxiety, lying awake in the still darkness. Do , re , mi, fa, sol passed off easily ; but the la 
demanded evident exertion, the si exertion greater still, and so on at lengthening intervals, till one 
reached the octaves, which really seemed to split the beast’s throat in utterance. I once heaid a Sloth 
compass six octaves, but he generally finds his ultimatum at the third. The native stoiy goes th.it the 
animal makes only a pitiful moaning when on the ground, but no sooner is he arrived on the tree- 
top than he utters this piercing cry ; and therefore, as Mr. Bonnat told me, the Ashantees, a quick- 
witted people, call certain chiefs of theirs cocofhoo , or Sloth, because whilst they were small men they 
sang small, but they crow very loud from the ‘ stools ’ to which the king thus raised them. . . . 
I believe Mr. Winwood Reade shot a fine Sloth at Mansu. The only specimens I myself saw were 
two young ones, both captured by cutting down the tree on which they sat. They had pretty grey furs, 
and the same anxious wretched look common to their family. Those who still credit the old belief 
about Sloths — if there be any — would have been much disconcerted to observe the activity these- 
creatures showed in running up and down the pole to which they were tied, walking head downwaids, 
of course 1 ” 
The Lemuroida as a group have some general characters in common. Firstly, they are all Quad- 
rumanous, and the hinder thumbs are in most very large, strong, opposable to the other digits, and 
capable of much movement. Furnished also with well-made thumbs on the hands, they have a great, 
power of grasp, and of clasping boughs ami large creeping plants during their active climbing and 
jumping. Then there are special structures on the tips of the fingers ; these are flattening of the tips 
into disc-or button-shaped pads, on the upper surface of which is the nail. The skin of these rounded 
tips covers a cushion of fat, and is well supplied with sensitive nerves, and hence they are not only 
