206 
LEMURS. 
smaller, and are partly concealed by the fur, as is shown in our figure of the head 
of one of the species. Their 1 skin is of a deep black; but the general colour of the 
fur is usually white, more or less tinged with yellow, and, in some individuals, 
passing into red or even black. The fur on the breast is always much thinner 
than that of other parts of the body. 
Three species of the genus are recognised, which are restricted to different 
parts of the island; but of these species there are several more or less distinct 
races, which are likewise confined to particular localities. It has been observed 
that while those individuals of the several species which tend to assume a black 
coloration are found in the damper parts of the island, those which are most com¬ 
pletely white frequent the drier regions at the northern extremity of Madagascar. 
The sifakas, as Grandidier observes, live in bands of from six to eight 
individuals. They are completely diurnal in their habits, and may be observed at 
morning and evening, when the heat is not 
too great, leaping in the forests from tree 
to tree in search of food. At sunrise they 
may often be seen sitting on the horizontal 
bough of a tree, close to where it branches 
off from the main stem, with their long legs 
bent, so as to touch their chin, and their 
hands resting on their knees. At other 
times they will be seen sitting in the same 
position, but with their arms extended, so as 
to receive the genial warmth from the 
rising sun on their bodies. During the heat 
of the day they conceal themselves in the 
depths of the foliage. When sleeping, they 
incline the head forwards on the chest, and 
cover it with their arms; at the same time the tail is either curled up spirally 
between the legs, or allowed to hang straight down. 
Their shelving lower front teeth are admirably adapted for removing part 
of the rind of the fruits on which they so largely subsist, and thus making an 
aperture through which the pulp is removed piecemeal. The skins of the fruits are 
always rejected; and it is stated that sifakas exhibit a marked preference for 
green rather than ripe fruit. 
In all ways they are admirably adapted for a purely arboreal life. So 
strong indeed are their hind limbs that they can readily take leaps of from ten 
to eleven yards in passing from bough to bough; and so rapid are their motions 
that Grandidier speaks of them as appearing to fly rather than leap. On the 
rare occasions when they descend from their favourite trees, they advance by 
means of long leaps, as owing to the shortness of their arms it is not easy for them 
to walk on the ground on all-fours like the majority of monkeys. To see them, 
observes Grandidier (from whom the whole of this account is taken), resting on 
their hind feet, and at each leap throwing up their arms in the air, the spectator 
might be led to think for a moment that he was looking at children at play. 
Indeed, a troop of these creatures advancing across the plains in the manner 
