2 10 
LEMURS. 
evening. Like their allies, they are sluggish in their movements, and but seldom 
descend to the ground, and, when they do so, they walk in the same peculiar manner 
as the sifakas. 
The avaliis are found in two parallel bands of forest on the east side of 
Madagascar, and also in the woods of a small area on the north-west. They are, 
however, totally unknown on the west and south coasts, where the vegetation and 
climate are totally different. The members of the colony on the north-west coast 
are of smaller size and somewhat different coloration from those on the east side of 
the island. From their smaller size and nocturnal habits the avahis are less noticed 
by the natives of Madagascar than are the other members of this group, and do not 
figure conspicuously either in their legends or in their superstitions. The name avahi 
is the one by which they are known to the Antanala tribe. By other tribes they are, 
however, termed Ampongi, Fotsi-fe, or Fotsi-afaka; the two latter terms respectively 
meaning “ white legs ” or “ white fork,” in allusion to the peculiar coloration of the 
hinder parts of these animals. 
The True Lemurs. 
Genus Lemur. 
With the true lemurs, which are likewise confined to the island of Madagascar, 
we come to the first of a group differing in several respects from those already 
noticed. The first and most 
easily recognised feature by 
which the true lemurs and their 
allies may be distinguished 
from the group containing the 
indri and the avahi, is that the 
toes of the foot are not con¬ 
nected together at their bases 
by a web. In none of those 
animals are the legs so long in 
proportion to the arms as we 
have seen to be the case in the 
members of the preceding group ; while the whole of them have long tails. Then, 
again, it may be mentioned that the members of this group are distinguished by 
the presence of an additional front tooth on either side of the lower jaw, and 
likewise by having one more premolar tooth on each side of both jaws; thus 
bringing up the total number of teeth from thirty to thirty-six. The formula is 
i §, c }-, pf., m |; which may be compared with that given on p. 204, as distinctive 
of the indri group. 
The true lemurs are confined to Madagascar and the Comoro islands, 
which are situated half-way between it and Zanzibar. Although some of 
them are nocturnal, and others diurnal in their habits, all these lemurs differ 
from the indri group in subsisting on a mixed diet; insects, small reptiles, 
birds’ eggs, and the callow young of birds forming at least as important a part of 
HEADS OF COMMON (a) AND SMOOTH-EARED (b) BLACK LEMUR. 
(From Sclater, List of Animals in Zool. Gardens.) 
