THE WEASEL LEMUR . 
223 
astonishing stories about these objects of their veneration. They say that it is dangerous to cast a spear 
at one of them, for, if it misses its mark, the animal returns the weapon with a surer aim ! They also 
assert that after a little one is born, the mother throws it to the father, who is usually up a tree close 
by, and he throws it back again ! This exercise is repeated several times ; and if the young one is 
invariably caught it is reared with care, but if it tumbles, there is an end of it. They train the 
Babakoto to catch birds ; and it is said that they become as useful as Dogs ; moreover, it appears 
that, although these Indris are in the main fruit-eaters, they will not despise the brains of birds, which 
they suck with evident delight. 
The skull of an Indris has large orbits, which are open behind into the space in which the temporal 
muscle works, and the “tear-canal” is in front of the orbit; moreover, the forehead, or frontal bone, is 
divided. The lower jaw has its angle, or the part between that which holds the teeth and that 
which rises up to be jointed with the skull, turned in, and the upper jaw in front is joined by 
the intermaxillary bones. 
GENUS LEPILEMUR. 
An animal which has no upper front teeth is certainly a curiosity, especially when its general state* 
and habits resemble those of the other Indris and Lemuroids, and the Lepilemur is such a one. It is 
found in Madagascar, and it is interesting on account of the variable nature of the colour of the fur in 
different individuals, as well as from the nature of its teetli and its habits. It differs, however, so 
much from all the other Lemuroida, that it is placed by itself in a genus, and the distinctions are that 
when fully grown it has no upper front teeth, although it has them in the first, or milk set, and that it 
has also four teats for its young instead of two, as is the case in all the animals hitherto noticed. 
The name refers to its prettiness, and hence the genus is called Lepileinur. 
This creature, considering its size, has an immense tail, as it is ten inches long, the head and trunk 
measuring only fourteen, and the whole animal forms a nice little meal for the natives of the north- 
west of the island. They call it Fitili-Ki, and as it eats the buds and leaves of trees it has a good 
flavour as a meat ; hence it is sought after, but not hunted, for that is unnecessary. Knowing its. 
habits the natives watch it, and, when it has left off playing and scampering about with its fellows 
(for it is very sociable), notice where it retires as daylight appears. There they find their prey quietly 
asleep, curled up in a comfortable nest of leaves, and they kill it with a. .stick. Hunting them would 
be useless, for they are quite nocturnal in their habits, and their activity in moving, and agility in 
taking prodigious bounds and jumps, are wonderful. Indeed, their body seems to be carefully made as. 
strong as possible to meet the strains of their jumping, and there is a ridge of bone in the bodies of 
some of the vertebrae which strengthens the spine as a whole ; moreover, the relation of the length of the 
ankle-bones and of the lower leg is that which is best adapted to their heedless rushings from branch to 
blanch through the woods. Their nightly excursions for fruit and play are rendered all the more safe 
by their great eyes and widely open orbits, but how the eating the fruit is assisted by the want of the 
upper front teeth may probably puzzle most people. Perhaps the diet may require a greater use 
than is usual of the back teeth, and the lower ones are peculiar, for their front part is carried forward 
outside the next tooth before them in the jaw, giving thus much extra strength to the whole. This 
Weasel Lemur, or Lepilemur mustelinus , has fair-sized ears, and its colours are of all sorts of shades of 
red, grey, white, and yellow. 
These animals hide their little ones, which do not get- about much at first, in nests made in the 
holes in trees. 
Another Lemuroid excited the attention of the members of one of the political missions, which was 
sent from the island of the Mauritius to the capital of the Hovas, in mountainous Central Madagascar. 
This animal was found in some numbers in the bamboo forests, which skirt the hills at their base, and 
many were caught in that of Alamazaortra. It seemed to live in the masses of bamboo leaves, and to 
wander about them by night, sleeping and resting by day in the deepest part of the woods. It is 
small, and has a short muzzle and a round head, and a long tail, the prevailing colour being grey, with 
red tints here and there on the back and head, and which are paler below. It is a variable species, and 
some individuals are more olive than grey, but all have such peculiar teeth that they can be distin- 
guished from all others of the sub-order. They have upper and lower front teeth, but the upper set are 
