TEE GRANT GALAGO . 
239 
with a short, high, almost pointed nose. The delicate woolly fur of the body lengthens and darkens on 
the tail, most so towards its end. Smith observes that they spring from branch to branch, and tree 
to tree, with extraordinary facility, and always seize with one of their fore-feet the branch upon which 
they intend to rest. In their manners they manifest considerable resemblance to Monkeys, particularly 
in their propensity to the practice of ridiculous grimaces 
and gesticulations. It spends the daytime in the nests 
which it forms for itself in the forks of branches, or in 
the cavities of decayed trees ; and in these nests the 
females also produce and rear their young, of which 
there are generally two at a birth. Dr. Kirk found 
.it common among the wooded hills of Kebrabassa, 
Batoka, and Nyassa, in East Africa. He says, singly 
.and in pairs they came about the camp-fires at night, 
and in the dim light resembled a Bat in movements, by 
crossing from side to side, at single leaps, distances of 
six feet. A pair which lived a few years ago in the 
Zoological Gardens were a most interestingly tender 
couple. The day saw them nestled lovingly in their 
little box, and as night wore on they would peep out 
and cautiously and by stealth venture into their more 
spacious cage. Creeping down the branch, which 
served as a ladder, so noiselessly that not a movement 
•could be heard, they would suddenly spring hither 
and thither, not like ordinary quadrupeds, but in a 
manner only to be compared with the leap and dart 
of a Tree Frog (Hyla). Approaching a dish of Meal- 
worms laid out for them, they would snap them up 
with their forepaws so quickly that the eye could not 
follow the motion ; this rapidity of action equalled 
the Channeleon’s tongue, whose protrusion and with- 
drawal baffles the eye, the fiy gone being the main 
fact the observer is cognisant of. They seemed heartily 
to enjoy the Meal-worms, these being dainties in com- 
parison with then- ordinary food, which was sopped (i<y 0 m a Photograph by Marie.) 
bread, rice and milk, and fruit. They were much 
more timid creatures than the impudent, rollicking Garnett’s Galago,* whose habits were noticed 
in the beginning of our description of the Lemuroids. Neither were they by any means as noisy ; 
indeed they seldom if ever uttered a sound, and that was only a subdued warning note. As 
regards their Monkey-like gestures, hinted at by Smith, this pair never showed any, their manner being 
rather Squirrel-like than otherwise. Occasionally a hasty contraction or curling together of each 
‘Capacious ear simulated the scared grimace of a Monkey, but this action was one of surprise or 
timidity, and not that of the drollery and mischief of Monkey habit. On the whole, these Malioli 
Ualagos appear to be animals of lower intelligence than the Monkev tribe. 
THE GRAND, OR THICK-TAILED GALAGO. f 
This handsome animal comes from both East and West Africa south of the Equator, and is about 
as large as a Cat, with a great bushy tail some three or four inches longer than the body. This 
•appendage it carries aloft very majestically, or swerves it to and fro as a kind of rudder in climbing, 
'Occasionally sweeping it along the back and belly, or curling it around the body after the manner of 
* This species, which intervenes between the Maholi and Grand Galago, we have already figured and desciibed (see 
ipp* 215, 216). 
f Galago cmssicaudatus (Geoffroy). 
