THE GHOSTS OF THE TROPICAL FOREST 19 
other quadruped, that it seems impossible to guess 
either at its habits or its purpose in creation. Each 
hand or foot is slowly raised from the branch on 
which it rests, brought forward, and set down again ; 
the fingers then close on the wood until its grasp is 
secure, when the other limbs begin to move, like those 
of a mechanical toy. As we looked, its “ affinities ” 
with other types presently suggested themselves. It 
is a furry-coated chameleon. The round, protruding 
eyes, the slow mechanical movements, and the insect- 
feeding habits, are identical, except that the loris hunts 
by night and the chameleon by day. The loris even 
possesses an auxiliary tongue, which aids it in catching 
moths, just as the development of the same member 
marks the insect-catching lizard. From dawn till dusk 
all the lemurs are the very bond-slaves of sleep, 
hypnotized in the literal sense, drugged and steeped 
in slumber. Had the old poets known them, had the 
Phoenician sailors brought them back when they 
visited the land of Ophir, they would have been the 
consecrated companions of Somnus. Ovid’s famous 
picture of the Cave of Sleep, and the noiseless hall 
where 
“A couch of down, raised high on ebony, 
Self-coloured, sombre, draped with sable pall, 
Stands in the midst, whereon that god doth lie, 
While all his limbs relaxed in slumber fall,” 
wants but one touch to complete the drowsy theme 
— a sleeping lemur curled up on Somnus’ dusky 
pillow. 
