PECULIARITIES OF THE INDRIS. 
219 
them are sometimes called canines, but tlieir office is plainly the same as that of the other front teeth. 
The predominance of the crushing teetli (there being twenty of them) over those adapted for tearing 
flesh, denotes that these animals should have a vegetable diet, and this requires larger digestive organs, 
as the food is bulky. So it is found that the stomach is single, and then there is a very large c cecum, 
or blind-gut, which ends in a large intestine, which is very long, and twisted on itself, so as to form 
two regular folds, one on the other, instead of one, as is commonly observed in the higher animals 
already noticed ) in fact, the arrangement is not very unlike that of the sheep, whilst the csecutn is 
on the same scale as that of that great vegetarian, the Kabbit. These large parts of the digestive 
apparatus aie common to most vegetable-eating animals, whilst the flesh-eaters have them short and 
small. 
But the Indris does not begin life with the prospect of being a vegetarian, for it has a first set of 
teeth, or milk teeth, as they are termed, and these are shed to make way for the second, or permanent set. 
Now, it is most curious that the young should have more teeth than the elders, and that were 
SKULL OF BLACK INDRIS, SHOWING MILK DENTITION OF INDRIS. C , CANINE, AND PREMOLAR,, 
ADULT DENTITION. NOT REPLACED IN ADULT. 
this first set to persist through life, it would indicate a very mixed feeding animal. The little 
ones have no less than thirty-four teeth, and they have two lower canines, and two extra lower 
false molars more than the adults. As age increases all these first teeth gradually fall out, and 
are replaced, to a certain extent, by the second set mentioned above. 
Now, what is the meaning of tins ? Why should the young have a larger set than the adults ? 
Clearly those of the adult are admirably adapted for its life, and it is equally evident that those of the 
\oung are of no particular use to them. They are either suckling, or are eating fruits obtained for them, 
and do not kdl and feed on birds and living tilings. It is found that the milk teeth of Indris 
correspond with the adult or permanent set of such an animal as the King-tailed Lemur, which belongs, 
to a diflerent genus. Hence the perfect condition of the teeth of the genus Lemur are the same as the 
first arrangement of the teeth in the genus Lulris. It tends to prove that there is some genealogical 
relationship between the two genera, and that they were derived from a common ancestor. Moreover, 
it may be assumed that the milk teeth of all animals are inherited from a perfect and adult ancestral 
form which was less highly organised or constituted. 
t ^ * s sa id that the female Indris has but one little one at a time, and that they are all gentle and 
timid, being rarely kept for any time in captivity. They are nocturnal in their habits, and evidently 
have extremely sensitive vision, and, like the others which lead this life, they are protected from many 
jarring falls by the structure of their hands and feet. 
THE DIADEM INDKIS * 
This is a fine species, with a white furry ruff, or crown, on the forehead and around the face, and 
it has a long muzzle and body, and a thick, long tail. It greatly resembles the White Lidris, called 
* Indris diadema. 
