FAMILY OF LEMURS. 
11 
much, that we cannot avoid believing, that if not identically the same, at all 
events they are intimately related; but as we have never seen the Indris longu 
caudaius of Geoffroy, it would be unsafe to hazard any positive opinion. 
The true Lemurs appear to be restricted to the genera,— Lemur (as the type), 
Indris and Propithecics ; the two latter depart, as we have seen, in some, points, 
and especially in their dental formula, from the normal group. In the genus 
Lemur^ the incisors of the upper jaw are dilated at their cutting edges ; but in 
PropitJiecus this dilitation is carried out to a greater extent, so as to approximate 
them in form to those of the Monkey. With respect to the position of the canine 
teeth, there is a peculiarity in the Lemurs which demands notice. If we 
examine the teeth of a Monkey, we see that the canines of the lower jaw, when 
the mouth is closed, advance and fit in before those of the upper jaw; and this 
position of the canines, with relationship to each other, is the general rule. It 
obtains throughout the Carnivora ; we see it in the Hog, and the Horse, of which 
the male has tusks in both jaws. It is in fact a standard rule.—-If, however, we 
turn to the Lemurs, we find a remarkable exception. In the genus Lemur^ the 
canines of the lower jaw close behind and to the inside of the posterior edge of 
those of the upper, the anterior margin of the former (that is the lower canines) 
wearing against the latter. From this circumstance, Geoffroy St. Hilaire has 
been induced to consider the two outer incisors of the lower jaw, which are larger 
than the intermediate ones, as the true canines. This idea, however, will not 
stand the test of scrutiny. For the outer incisors of the lower jaw have neither 
the form, the position, nor the use of canines; whereas, though they do close 
behind their antagonists, the canines of the lower jaw have the true figure and 
use of such teeth. Moreover, in the genera Indris and Propithecus^ in which the 
upper incisors are four, and not six, the canines of the lower jaw also close behind 
those of the upper; and if they are not to be considered in the light of genuine 
canines, what are ?—for the incisors here are only four. In the skull of a 
little Lemuridous animal (Microceleus murinus) now before us, which closely 
resembles the Lemur in dentition, the point of the lower canines (which 
advance obliquely forwards) bears completely against the inner side of the upper 
incisors, but still rather behind them, the body of the lower canines filling a space 
between the canines of the upper jaw and the succeeding false molar. 
We find, then, this arrangement of the canines obtaining through the whole 
of the Lemuridous family, till we come to that strangely aberrant form, the 
Flying Lemur or Galiopihecus (Galeopithecus), an animal constituting the 
type of a distinct group, in which canines are altogether wanting. We cannot 
avoid observing, that M. F. Cuvier, in his work entitled Dcs Lents des Mammi- 
feres consideres., characterizes lemuridous animals as having six incisors above 
and six below, the reciprocal position of the teeth being as in Monkeys. We 
