THE C1IEIR0GALES. 
235 
The name of tliis species comes from a dark brown streak which passes along the whole length 
of the back, and over the head, to fork into two bands — one over each eyebrow. Whatever may be its 
liking for honey, it has the means of biting hard fruit, for it has large middle front teeth, and also a 
strong first upper false molar. As a whole the teeth number the same as in the first division of the 
American Monkeys. 
COQTJEKEL’S* AND THE DWARFf CHEIROGALE. 
Another of these little Lemuroids, called Coq uerel’s Clieirogale, is celebrated as a nest maker, for it 
gathers dead leaves, and twigs, and grass, and makes a comfortable nest of large size, for it is a foot 
and a half in diameter. It goes into it by day, and sleeps soundly whilst the sun is up, but comes out 
at dusk to leap, crawl, and swing amongst the trees, looking out for live food quite as much as 
for fruit. 
M. Milius, who was Governor of the Island of Reunion in 1821, gave a pair of little Lemuroids, 
each being about nine inches in length, with a long tail, to the J ardin des Plantes, at Pairs. They lived 
there for some time, and used to get out of their cages at night and wander about the rooms and places 
where the beasts were confined. At dusk, after having been very quiet all day, they got up and stood 
well on their hind legs, and began to jump to and fro like mad creatures, and they kept it up when the 
room was quite dark, for they could be heard rushing about amongst a crowd of cages tenanted by 
other animals ; but if the least light were admitted they darted through a small hole which led to their 
own cage, and were there again in the twinkling of an eye. They had beautiful silky fawn-coloured fur, 
and rolled themselves up in balls during the daytime, for the light seemed to be especially painful to 
them. In tlieir captivity they were fed on bread, biscuits, and fruit. 
One of the Clieirogales has a black circle around the eyes, and is called the Spectacled 
Clieirogale, and it is interesting because it is the species whose summer sleep has been noticed, 
and because it has an extremely important tail. This tail thickens greatly at the root, and tapers 
towards the end, not being cylindrical throughout, and it is the i*oot which gets grossly fat, and finally 
excessively thin. 
The last kind to be noticed is sometimes called the Madagascar Rat, or the Dwarf Clieirogale, for 
it is only four inches long, with a tail of six inches, and it might be passed by as only interesting for 
its small size and Rat-like look, but it has a most resplendent eye. The tape turn, or coloured tinsel- 
looking glaring structure situated deeply in the eyes, is so large, and the eye admits so much light at 
dusk, that quite an unnatural brilliancy is pioduced. They are night hunters, and are quiet and good- 
tempered when kept in cages. 
They make true nests, like those of the crow, which consist of small interlaced twigs, in the midst 
of which there is a depression, with a bed of hairs for the young. 
All the Clieirogales come, of course, from Madagascar, and they appear to inhabit the northern 
part of the island, and the east and west coasts, but not the south. They complete — with the exception 
of the curious Aye-Aye, which will be described at the end of this notice of the Lemuroida — the Mada- 
gascar Lemurs, and it is a point of interest to know that they are the only Madagascar Lemuroids which 
are pretty closely allied, so far as construction and shape are concerned, with any of the African kinds, 
which will now demand attention. Indeed, they and the Galagos of Africa have much in common, and 
are readily distinguished from the Indris and other Lemuroids already noticed. For instance, both 
have the long heel, or ankle-bone, the same number of teeth, and both have four teats, or mammae — 
two on the breast, and two on the groin. They have no ruffs and no ear-tufts, and tlieir brain, is 
more triangular in shape than that of any other of the Lemuroida. 
* Cheirofjale CoquerdlU. t Cheirogale main. 
