FAMILY OF LEMURS. 
3 
Now, with regard to the Lemurs, they depart from the Monkeys of hotU 
worlds^ in dental characters; but in quadrumanous structure, they approach 
those of the old. As in these, however, so among the Lemurs, are the thumbs of 
the feet the most perfectly developed. In many species the tail is wanting; in 
some it is short, in none is it a truly prehensile organ. If we turn from the 
Lemurs to the Didelphidce^ in which family we include Didelphis and Pkalan- 
gista^ as the types of their respective forms, we see animals of arboreal habits, 
with an abnormal dentary system, and omnivorous appetites, destitute of a 
thumb on the forehands, but having this organ largely developed on the hind 
feet, and furnished with a truly prehensile tail. It may be objected, that the 
Opossums and Phalangers do not form a natural family. But we incline to the 
views of Mr. Ogilby, who contends for a “ gradual and uninterrupted transition 
from the naked-prehensile-tailed Opossums of South America, through the 
equally naked-tailed Couscous, Balantia, of the Indian islands, to the Phalan- 
gersr And here we cannot but observe, that the prehensile power of the tail, 
constituting it an organ of importance in the economy of the animal, is almost 
exclusively confined to pedimanous Mammalia. To this rule there are only the 
following exceptions,, as far as we know, among the whole range of the mainmi- 
ferous kingdom; viz :—the Kinkajou (Cercoleptes) the Coendou (Sgnetheres), 
the Tamandua (Mgrmecophaga Tamandua), in which it is partially prehensile, 
and the little Two-toed Anteater (Mgrmecophaga didactglia, Linn.^, in which 
it is completely so. 
To this it may be added, that wdth a prehensile tail, there is associated in 
every instance a certain slowness and cautiousness of movement, devoid of the 
brusquerie and easy alertness so remarkable in all the Quadritmana, except in a 
group among the Lemurs (Loris), comprehending a limited number of species, 
whose actions are slow, and whose limbs possess a peculiar arterial arrangement, 
connected with a surprising tenacity of grasp, and the power of long-continued 
muscular strain, in one unaltered attitude. It will appear, then, from what we 
have said, that the Cheiropoda present double analogues, the Monkeys of the 
old world forming a parallel group to those of the new, and the Lemuridce, a 
parallel group to the Didelphidce —the quadrumanous Lemurs bearing the same 
relationship to the quadrumanous Simi<s, as do the pedimanous Didelphidce to 
the pedimanous Simice. Having thus far attempted to shew the situation and 
natural affinities of the Lemuridce, we shall now proceed to a closer investigation 
of this curious and interesting family, which consists of several genera, distin¬ 
guished from each other by various characters, which we shall detail as we pass 
along in our review. 
The term Lemur, first adopted by Linn^us (from the Latin Lemures, signi- 
B 2 
