THE RING-TAILED LEMUR. 
227 
toe-thumb. Moreover, a true claw adorns the next toe, and in many other respects there is a certain 
agreement between the foot and hand. Both are black-soled, and the beautiful tracery of the pro- 
nounced cross lines, furrows, and folds would delight the heart of a gipsy fortune-teller. The 
mammae, or teats, are two in number, and are placed near the armpits. Usually the species of Lemur 
have but one, or at most two, little ones at a birth, and the period of gestation is about one hundred 
and ten days, the young Lemur being born almost naked, and nearly without fur. Their hairs are short 
and sparsely distributed, except on the head, where they form a kind of belt around the eyes. They 
cling on to their mother’s fur, and, holding on to that over her stomach and abdomen, they lie across 
her, so that when she draws up her legs she either hides the little one effectually, or it may be seen 
hairless in the folds of the mother’s groins. After awhile, and as the young Lemur becomes better 
clothed and stronger, it leaves this snug and warm retreat, and crawls up on to the mother’s back and 
.shoulders, and seizes her fur, and holds on with such tenacity that she can jump and bound about 
without unseating her little burthen. 
Lemur catta inhabits a circumscribed region. Its range is along the south and west coasts of 
Madagascar. Social, and banding together in troops, they feed on the fruits of the forest, and 
occasionally, it is averred, capture insects and small birds. Those kept in confinement, however, 
are far less carnivorous than the smaller and livelier nocturnal Galagos to be described hereafter. 
They seem remarkably sensible to cold, huddling and crouching close to one another as if heat and com- 
fort were indispensaUe to their nature. At such times their tails are wound round the bodies of their 
companions and of themselves in a very odd fashion. Ordinarily very 1 good-natured, they like to be 
fondled, and come down to be fed, uttering either a grunt of satisfaction or a loud plaintive cry, but it 
is stated that in Madagascar when the wet season comes on they become much excited, and rush about 
quite careless of danger, grunting terribly. They do not tease each other like Monkeys, and do not 
jump about on their land legs alone, to do mischief of all kinds ; on the contrary, they leap on all-fours 
with great agility and quietude, and in a light-hearted sort of way. They use their hands in grasping 
•objects given to them, and feed themselves with them ; but, like the Monkeys, they often scratch with 
the hinder extremities, and do not use them to put food to their mouths. 
On looking into their anatomy it will be noticed that the back-bone has none of those graceful 
curves so characteristic of man, and which are modified and less perceptible in Apes. It is made for 
going on all-fours and jumping, and consists of some twenty-nine pieces, or vertebrse, there being also 
twenty-six in the tail. Having good lungs, the chest is capacious, but is long and flattened at the 
sides, and there are thirteen ribs on either side, and a central breast- bone, or sternum , composed of 
seven pieces. 
The skull has large eye-cavities, or orbits, and (as in Indris) they are not closed behind by bone, but 
are open there, though the angle of the lower jaw is not turned in or inflected. The diet of the Bing- 
tailed Lemurs being both vegetarian and of insects, or an occasional small bird, their teeth are very 
equally distributed as regards their kinds. There is a good set of front teeth for tearing and incising, 
the full number of canines for piercing and killing, and the full number of grinders. The numbers are on 
either side of the upper jaw — two incisors, one canine, three false, or pre-molars, and three true molars, 
and on either side of the lower jaw is a corresponding number. Thus this arrangement resembles 
that of the milk teeth of Indris, but the front teeth of the lower jaw stick out in a remarkable manner. 
Corresponding with their teeth are the digestive organs, which are more suited for the assimilation of 
vegetable food than for a purely carnivorous diet. These measure nearly seven feet in length, and the 
blind-gut, or csecum, is about a foot long. There is one point of great interest in the throat of this 
Lemur, especially when the animal is considered as intermediate between some Carnivora and the 
American Monkeys. This, the organ of voice has a small laryngeal pouch, recalling, or rather fore- 
shadowing, the great ones of the Howlers ; and the bone at the base of the tongue (the hyoid) has a 
body and projections, which resemble those of the Carnivora rather than those of the Monkeys, In 
the wrist there is the ninth bone. 
When in captivity, the Ring-tailed Lemur soon becomes attached to its keeper, and they show 
■some powers of memory. A quartermaster of the French frigate lhipleix , who had one on board, was 
recognised by it when surrounded by all the crew. This little creature liked to play with the cabin- 
boys and the Dogs, and took charge of, and protected, a little Monkey belonging to one of the sailors. 
