16 THE GHOSTS OF THE TROPICAL FOREST 
exposure to daylight seems to benumb all their 
faculties. They appear drugged and stupefied, and, 
though capable of movement, seem indisposed either 
to attempt escape when handled, or to move in any 
other direction than that of shelter from the odious 
day. Even food is refused before nightfall, and, 
unlike the epicure’s ortolans, which awake and feed in 
a darkened room whenever the rays of a lamp suggest 
the sunrise, the lemur only consumes its meal of fruit 
and insects when nightfall has aroused its drowsy 
wits. These midnight habits clearly unfit it for 
public exhibition at the Zoo, and the last and rarest 
of the tribe which have arrived in London occupy a 
private room adjacent to the monkey palace, in 
common with other lemurs and loris, and a few of the 
most delicate marmosets and tropical monkeys which 
have escaped the rigours of an English winter. One 
large cage, which, in spite of the label “ Coquerel’s 
Lemur” placed upon it, seemed at the time of our 
last visit to contain nothing but a pile of hay, is the 
dwelling-place of these latest guests. After displacing 
layer after layer of the hay, the two sleeping beauties 
were discovered lying in a ball, each with its long furry 
tail wrapped round the other, in the deepest and most 
unconscious repose. When at last the two were separ- 
ated, and the least reluctant was taken in the hand, 
the extreme beauty of the little “ ghost ” was at once 
apparent. In colour it is a rich cinnamon, fading to 
lavender beneath. The texture of the fur is like 
nothing but that of the finest and best-finished seal- 
