TRUE LEMURS. 
2I 5 
from those already noticed; this difference being chiefly shown by the presence of 
a more or less well-marked ruff fringing the cheeks and chin, and frequently also 
by a fringe of hairs on the margins of the ears. Moreover, all these lemurs are 
subject to great variation in colour, which in one case appears to be merely 
individual, while in another it is distinctive of the two sexes. So great, indeed, is 
this variation, that the two species of which we shall treat have been described 
under at least four distinct scientific names; thereby showing how great is the 
need of caution in such matters. 
The black lemur comes from the north-west coast of Madagascar; and the 
male, upon the evidence of which the species was originally described, is of a 
uniform black colour, with a well-developed ruff round the cheeks and neck, and a 
long fringe to the ears. Very different, however, is the female, which was at first 
described under the name of the white-whiskered lemur ( L. leucomystax). In this 
sex the general colour of the fur is brown, with a patch on the lower part of the 
back, and the ruff round the face and the fringe on the ears are white. 
A female of this species in the Gardens of the London Zoological Society twice 
gave birth to a young one, and thus afforded an opportunity of seeing the curious 
manner in which the true lemurs carry their offspring. This is shown in the 
woodcut on p. 202. The young one born on the 24th of March 1884 proved to be a 
female, and was of the same brown colour as its mother. On the 3rd of April in 
the following year the second young one was born, which was a male, and at the 
time of birth it was of the black hue of its father. Each of these young ones was 
carried lying nearly across the abdomen of its mother, with its tail passed round 
her, and thus on to its neck, so as to afford a firm attachment; and it is believed 
that, at least in the wild state, the young are at a later period carried on their 
mother’s back. 
A nearly allied lemur, of which the male was described by Dr. Sclater, may 
be called the smooth-eared black lemur ( L. rufipes), and is distinguished by the 
smaller size of the ruff round the throat, and the absence of a fringe on the ears 
of the male; the difference in the heads of the two forms being shown in, the 
figure on page 210. The female of this lemur was described by Dr. Gray, and 
has reddish feet. 
The Ruffed Lemur (Lemur varius). 
The last, and at the same time the largest, of the true lemurs is the ruffed 
lemur, which inhabits the north-east coast of Madagascar. As its name implies, 
it is remarkable for the extraordinary individual variation in the colour of the 
fur; such variations being apparently independent of sex. Frequently the colour 
is a mixture of black and white, disposed in patches on different parts of the body, 
but occasionally white individuals are met with. Other individuals are, however, 
of a nearly uniform reddish-brown colour; this variety having been regarded as a 
distinct species, under the name of the red lemur ( L. ruber). 
A specimen of the red variety in the Menagerie of the London Zoological Society 
had the upper surface of the body of a bright rufous brown, while the under-parts 
were of a deep black. The reddish area included the sides of the face, ears, back, 
