ORDER OE QUADRUMANA. 
541 
sharp, very strong, and endow the animal with great facilities for 
climbing trees. From this peculiarity, no doubt, the name of 
Cat- Monkey — the meaning of the word Galeopithecus — has been 
derived. 
In the female, the mammae are four in number, placed symme- 
trically on each side of the chest, although but seldom more than 
one young is produced at a birth. 
The teeth of the Galeopithecus are thirty-four in number : ten 
incisors, four canines, and twenty molars. They have two in- 
cisors less above than below ; the total number of teeth in the 
lower jaw is therefore eighteen. The molars are studded with 
points like those of the Insectivora, and the lower incisors present 
this peculiarity, that they are directed forward, and are deeply 
notched at their summits. 
The Galeopithecidae are essentially nocturnal; they conceal 
themselves during day in the most lonely parts of forests, and 
come forth at evening in quest of food. They are then seen 
moving actively through the trees, either climbing or flying, 
according to circumstances. On the ground they are not so 
embarrassed as might be believed, for they run with agility. 
Their flight is noiseless ; and although certain writers assure us 
that they can in this way clear a space of some hundreds of yards, 
there are good reasons for believing that they but rarely attempt 
such an experiment. Insects constitute the staple of their food, 
but they are fond of fruit, and even devour small Birds. 
In order to rest, these animals suspend themselves by their hind 
paws to the branches of trees, like Bats. The people of the 
regions they inhabit choose this opportunity for capturing them ; 
and notwithstanding the disagreeable odour their flesh exhales, 
eat them without repugnance. 
The Galeopithecidse inhabit the Moluccas, the Phillipines, and 
islands of Sunda, and, it is said, some parts of the Indian Con- 
tinent. They are most numerous in Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. 
Family of Cheiromys. — This family is still less numerous than 
the preceding, and contains but a single species, the Chieromys 
Aye- Aye, a native of Madagascar, which Sonnerat discovered in 
that island towards the end of the eighteenth century. This 
singular animal, which is very rare, was not even known at that 
