57 
MAMMALIA ROOM.] NATURAL HISTORY. 
are generally covered with a soft woolly fur. They 
are almost confined to Madagascar, only a very few 
species being found in Tropical Africa and Asia. 
Some have an elongated conical head, bluntly tu¬ 
bercular grinders, and elongated hind legs, as the Ma¬ 
caco ( Lemur ) and Propithecus , which have long tails, 
and the Indris , which are nearly tailless. They are 
all peculiar to Madagascar and the Island of Johanna. 
Others have a round head, with a short muzzle and 
large orbits, and nocturnal eyes, as the Loris and Nyc- 
iicebus , which have elongated limbs, and a very short or 
no tail. The Galago and Cheirogaleus have an elongated 
woolly tail. The Tarsiers {Tarsins) differ from the lat¬ 
ter in having the second and third fingers of the hinder 
hand furnished with subulate claws, instead of the index 
fingers, as is the case in all the other genera. 
The family of Colugos, or Flying Lemurs, ( Galeo - 
pithecidce , Case 34,) are peculiar among the Primates for 
having the hairy skin of the body extended between the 
body and limbs so as to form a kind of parachute. Their 
fingers and toes are short, webbed, and sharply clawed; the 
cutting teeth are pectinately lobed. They are nocturnal 
animals, living on fruits and insects, in the Islands of 
the Indian Archipelago, suspending themselves by their 
feet to the branches of trees with the back downwards, 
and thus forming a kind of hammock in which they 
nurse their young. 
The family of Bats, ( Vespertilionidce , Cases 35—42,) 
like the former family, have a thin skin extended between 
their limbs and the body, but they are peculiar for having 
the fingers of their fore hands very much elongated, and 
united together by the thin membranous skin, which en¬ 
ables them to fly, or rather flutter, like a bird. The 
thumb is always simple and free; they live suspended by 
their hinder legs, head downwards, during the day, flying 
and searching for their food by night. They walk with 
their wings folded up, on their hind feet and the wrists of 
the front ones, assisted by their fore thumb, by which 
they also sometimes suspend themselves. 
The Leaf-nosed Bats ( Istiophori) have the nostrils 
placed in a separate bald soace, which is often elevated 
n 3 
