L E M U R. 4?3 
tmich raifed, and they feem to be in an uneafy petition. 
The length of their legs gives a great facility to climbing 
trees ; and fo nimble are they, that Sonnerat fays the eye 
can hardly follow them ; in this again they refemble the 
monkeys. They are indeed a lingular race, having the 
muzzle of a fox and the paws of an ape ; they teem, there¬ 
fore, deltined to fill the fpace which exifts between thofe 
animals which molt nearly refemble man, and the real 
quadrupeds. They are allied to the former by the organs 
of motion, and to the latter by the conical form and 
length of the head ; they have four cutting teeth in the 
upper jaw, and fix in the lower, like the carnivorous ani¬ 
mals. To the monkeys however they approach the near- 
eft : like them, they have two paps placed in the front of 
the breaft j the organs of generation vifible ; the motions 
of pronation and lupination as eal'y as in man ; a thumb 
feparated from the fingers, and fufeeptibie of being brought 
in contact with them; eyes placed in front of the head; 
and, above all, the focket of the eye diftinft from the tem¬ 
poral folia, a charader the more important, as it is not 
met with in any other digitated mammalia. 
But, with all thefe common charaderiftics, the maucau- 
cos are ft ill fufficiently diftind from the monkeys. They 
have a penetrating and agreeable phyliognomy; a form 
{lender and elegant ; the hind legs longer than the fore 
ones; the hair foft, lilky, plentiful, and extremely clean; 
of the incifive teeth the upper ones are leparated in pairs, 
the under ones direded outwards. Such are the traits 
which diltinguilh thefe pretty animals. 
They have another peculiarity which might be difre- 
garded, becaufe it belongs to thole organs which are molt 
fubjed to vary; it is the nail of the fecond toe on the 
hind foot, which is long, arched, grooved, and terminated 
in a point: this nail is the only one which is thus formed ; 
the others are, as in all the Simla tribe, Ihort, ftraight, 
and flatted. 
M. Geoffrey, profelfor of zoology in the mufeum of na¬ 
tural hiftory at Paris, urges the neceflity of making a di- 
vifion in this genus ; for he oblerved that the Lemur indri 
and Lemur laniger of Gmelin had but four cutting teeth 
in the lower jaw, which were horizontally placed, con¬ 
cave within and convex without; whereas the other ma- 
caucos have lix, and they are placed diagonally ; fo that 
he thinks thefe two fpecies lliould form a genus of them- 
felves, between the Simla and the Lemur. Others per¬ 
haps will think that thefe two might be thrown into the 
genus Sitnia, or even that of all the maucaucos might be in¬ 
cluded under the fame genus. We have but ten fpecies 
of Lemur in Gmelin ; yet Geoffrey makes five genera of 
thefe, and Audebert fix. Thefe are as follow: 1. Indri, 
including the Lemur indri and laniger. 2. Lemur, com¬ 
prehending the Lemur mongooz, macaco, catta, &c. 3. 
Loris, conlifiing of the Lemur tardigradus. 4. Galago, a 
fpecies difeovered by Geoffrey. 5. Tarfius, the tarfier of 
Pallas and Daubenton, the Didelphis macrotarfus of Gme- 
len. 6. Galeopithecus: this is the Lemur volans, or flying 
maucauco, which, after the example of Pallas, is made a 
feparate genus by Audebert. It is neceflary to acquaint 
the reader with thefe arrangements, left he Ihould be loft 
in the maze of new genera when perufing the works of 
thefe authors; hut we fnall purfue the Ample and lumi¬ 
nous fyilem of Linnaeus, as corrected by Gmelin. 
1. Lemur tardigradus, the loris. Specific character, 
tail none, body tawnyifli. This has a produced dog-like 
vifage ; forehead high above the nofe ; ears large, thin, 
and rounded, body {lender and weak; limbs very long 
and {lender, thumb on each foot more diftimff, and fepa¬ 
rate from the toes ; on that, and the three outmoft toes, 
are flat nails ; on the interior toe of every foot a crooked 
claw. The hair on the body is univerfally fiiort, and de¬ 
licately foft; the colour on the upper part tawny, beneath 
whitilh; fpace round the eyes dulky; on the bead is a dart- 
{haped fpot, with the end pointing to the interval between 
the eyes. Its length, from the tip of the nofe to the anus, 
is only eight inches. Notwithltanding the . epithet of 
V Oh. XII. No. 8+5. 
Jlotli given in Seba, it is very aflive, afeends trees moll 
nimbly, and has all the adtions of an ape. If we credit 
Seba, the male climbs the trees, and taltes the fruits be¬ 
fore it prefents them to its mate. The female has four 
teats. 
2. Lemur ecaudatus, the taillefs maucauco: tail none; 
a dark rulty line along the middle of the back from the 
rump to the forehead, where it becomes forked ; orbits 
of the eyes furrounded by a blackifti circle. This, and 
not the preceding, appears to be the “ loris, or flow-paced 
lemur,” deferibed by fir William Jones, in the Afiatic 
Refearches, vol. iv. We fnall copy his account, as it con¬ 
tains many traits of his benevolent mind. 
“This (male) animal had four hands, each five-fingered; 
alms naked ; nails round, except thofe of the indices 
ehind, which were long, curved, pointed ; flair very thick, 
efpecially on the haunches, extremely foft, moftly dark 
grey, varied above with brow n and a tinge of ruffet ; 
darker on the back, paler about the face and under the 
throat, reddilh towards the rump; no tail; a dorfal ftripe, 
broad, chefnut-coloured, narrower towards the neck ; a 
head alinolt fpherical ; a countenance expreflive and in- 
terefting; eyes round, large, approximated, weak in the 
day-time, glowing and animated at night ; a white verti¬ 
cal ftripe between them ; eyelaflies black, fiiort; ears dark, 
rounded, concave ; great acutenefs at night both in fee¬ 
ing and hearing, a face hairy, fiattilh; a nofe pointed, not 
much elongated; the upper lip cleft; canine teeth com¬ 
paratively long, very {harp. In his manners he was for 
the moil part gentle, except in the cold feafon, when his 
temper feemed wholly .changed ; and his Creator, who 
made him fo fenfible of cold, to which he mull often have 
been expofed even in his native forefts, gave him, proba¬ 
bly for that reafon, his thick fur, which we rarely lee on 
animals in thefe tropical climates. To me, who not only 
conllantly fed him, but bathed him twice a-week in wa¬ 
ter accommodated to the feafons, and whom he clearly 
diftir.guifhed from others, he was at all times grateful ; 
but, when I difturbed him in winter, he was ulually in¬ 
dignant, and feemed to reproach me wdth the unealinefs 
which he felt, though no poflible precautions had been 
omitted to keep him in a proper degree of warmth. At 
all times he was pleafed with being llroked on the head 
and throat, and frequently fuffered me to touch his very 
{harp teeth ; but at all times his temper was quick, and, 
when he was unleafonably difturbed, he expreffed a little 
relentment by an obfeure murmur, like that of a fquirrel, 
or a greater degree of difpleafure by a peevifh cry, efpeci¬ 
ally in winter, when he was often as fierce, on being much 
importuned, as any bead of the woods. From half an 
hour after funrife to half an hour before funfet, he flept 
without intermifiion, rolled up like a hedgehog ; and, a? 
foon as he awoke, he began to prepare himfelf for the la¬ 
bours of his approaching day, licking and drefling him¬ 
felf like a cat; an operation which the flexibility of his 
neck and limbs enabled him to perform very completely ; 
he was then ready for a flight breakfaft, after which he 
commonly took a fliort nap; but, when the fun was quite 
fet, he recovered all his vivacity. His ordinary food was 
the fweet fruit of his country ; plantains always, and 
mangos during the feafon ; hut he refufed peaches, and 
was not fond of mulberries, or even of guaiavas; milk 
he lapped eagerly, but was contented with plain water. 
In general he was not voracious, but never appeared fa- 
tiated with grafshoppers ; and parted the whole night, 
while the hot feafon lulled, in prowling for them ; when 
a grafshopper, or any infedl, alighted within his reach, 
his eyes, which he fixed on his prey, glow ed with uncom¬ 
mon fire 5 and, having drawn himfelf back to fpring on 
it with greater force, he feized the viftim with both his 
fore paws, but held it in one of them while he devoured 
it. For other purpoles, and fometimes even for that of 
holding his food, he tiled all his paws indifferently as 
hands; and frequently grafped with one of them the higher 
part of his ample cage, while his three others were feve- 
6 E rally 
