THE SLOW LOUIS. 
245 
Dr. Alexander Smith, describes and compares the animal with the Potto. He mentions the fol- 
lowing characters : — Above, yellowish-brown, the roots of the hairs, dark grey ; below, paler, in some 
parts nearly white ; hair, wool-like ; length from 
muzzle to point of tail, 10 J- inches, the tail being 
only a quarter of an inch long. The body is 
slender ; the head oval and rounded, with a blunt 
but protuberant face; the eyes, full and large; 
ears, naked within, and with short hairs externally ; 
nostrils, sinuous, and laterally placed; there is a 
projecting fold beneath the tongue, as in other 
Lemuroids, and the neck is short. The limbs are 
slender, the hinder a trifle larger and stronger than 
the others ; both feet and hands conform to those 
of the Potto, with, however, a still greater reduc- 
tion of the index finger. He observes that the 
hands and feet are divided, as it were, into two 
opposing portions, which he likens to the grasp of 
such climbing-birds as the Parrots. This pecu- 
liarity, along with the multiple blood-vessel division 
of the extremities, he thinks indicative of long- 
enduring muscular action, stealthy step, and adap- 
tation for gripping twigs of trees, rather than for 
the purpose of capturing a prey. 
The anatomical peculiarities of the Angwantibo have been lucidly described by Prof. Huxley in 
the “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” where, from his examination, he substantiates Dr. Gray’s 
separation of the animal generically from its African mother the Potto. 
RETE MIKABILE. (Original after Marie.) 
Greatly magnified, and partly diagrammatic representations 
of a Rete Mirabile. a. General appearance, b. Cross section 
of vessels, c. How tlie capillary vessels of two sizes join. 
THE ASIATIC SLOW LEMUBOIDS. — THE SLOW LORIS.* 
There are two well-marked kinds of these Lemuroida to be met with in very large districts in the 
East, and they live in the tropical woods of Eastern and Southern Hindostan, Ceylon, Burmah, Siam, 
Cochin China, the Malay Archipelago, and in the great Islands of 
Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. But they do not live together in the 
same parts. 
The first to be noticed has the widest geographical range, and 
is to be found here and there from Hindostan to China, and from 
Burmah to the great islands. Hence quite a voluminous history is 
attached to this animal, whose singular appearance and habits, 
peculiar anatomy, and geographical distribution, have been the 
fruitful theme for travellers and naturalists of most European 
nations. He is called by many names, and is the Bashful Billy — 
“ Chirmundi Billi ” — of the Bengalese, or the Slow Lemur, and 
naturalists term him the Slow Loris, or Kukang (Nycticebus tardi- 
gradus). When he is turned out of his quarters in the daytime, he 
reminds one of a very young, awkward, puppy without a tail. But 
his eyes, however, are enormous and owl-like, and seem to start 
protuberantly forwards with an unmeaning stare. When his wits 
slow loris. ( From a sketch by Tickeii.) return, and the scare ceases, he softly turns on his heel, and with 
a very slow, measured pace — hand-over-hand, as sailors term it 
— makes for his box. There is a cool, sedate manner about his whole proceedings which may either 
be taken for wisdom or stupidity. Dining the night, when hungry cravings send him forth on his 
32 
* NycticebVjS . 
