Part 6

{59}HABITS.--Of the habits of both this and of the preceding species little is known, for they have rarely, if ever, been seen alive by Europeans. According to the Rev. G. A. Shaw, the present species lives in the belt of forest-land stretching from the eastern forest into the heart of Betsileo, a few miles north of Fianarantsoa, where they are tolerably abundant, frequenting the tops of the highest trees. Among these it moves about on all fours (its very stout limbs having beautifully perfect hands), using its tail as a balance by twisting it round a branch. The tail is, however, not truly prehensile, the animal only employing it to steady itself, or to hold on slightly by. This species, whose food consists chiefly of fruit and insects, builds a nest in a fork amid the smallest branches near the top of some very high tree, the female bringing forth two and sometimes three young at a birth.

IV. THE FORK-MARKED DWARF-LEMUR. MICROCEBUS FURCIFER.

_Lemur furcifer_, Blainv., Ostéogr. Mamm., 1841, p. 35, pl. vii.

_Cheirogaleus furcifer_, Isid. Geoffr., C. R., xxxi., p. 876 (1850); Mivart, P. Z. S., 1867, pp. 960-975 (skull and tarsus figured).

_Lepilemur furcifer_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 145.

_Phaner furcifer_, J. E. Gray, Cat. Monkeys, Brit. Mus. App., pp. 132, 135 (1870).

_Microcebus furcifer_, Forsyth Major, Nov. Zool., vol. i., p. 16 (1894).

CHARACTERS.--Ears large and long; snout pointed; tail longer than the body, and equally haired; foot elongate. General colour reddish-grey. Unmistakably recognisable by the black dorsal streak bifurcating on the forehead into two branches, extending on the inner side of the ears and terminating over each eye.

Facial portion of skull longer than cranial; angle of lower jaw much produced backwards and downwards; hind margin of palate extending back to hinder margin of posterior molar; hind perforations of palate large; border of maxillary swollen {60}in the canines and pre-molars. Upper anterior incisors much larger than the posterior, and both anterior to canines; anterior pre-molars canine-like, both vertically and proportionately longer than the median pre-molars of any other species of the family; median pre-molar compressed, with a fore and hind heel; the posterior pre-molar with a large internal talon. Molars comparatively small, but longer and narrower than in _M. coquereli_; anterior molar much larger than the posterior pre-molar, its hind inner cusp rudimentary; the posterior molar longer than the posterior pre-molar, and smaller than the other molars, its inner cusp wanting. Lower anterior pre-molar lance-shaped, vertically longer than the two posterior sub-equal grinders; molars sub-equal, much larger than the posterior pre-molar; posterior molar comparatively short, five-cusped.

DISTRIBUTION.--Chiefly found on the west coast of Madagascar.

V. COQUEREL'S DWARF-LEMUR. MICROCEBUS COQUERELI.

_Cheirogalus coquereli_, Grandid., Rev. Mag. de Zool., xix., 1867, p. 85.

_Microcebus coquereli_, Mivart, P. Z. S., 1867, pp. 966-967; Forsyth Major, Nov. Zool., vol. i., p. 14 (1894; with full synonymy).

_Mirza coquerelii_, J. E. Gray, Cat. Monkeys, Brit. Mus. App., pp. 131, 135, 136 (1870); Schlegel, Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 321 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--Similar to _M. furcifer_, but slightly smaller; ears large, long, and almost naked; tail longer than the body; fur soft and woolly. Above dark grey, washed with rufous; tail, at base, of the same colour as the back; remainder of tail dark rufous; throat, breast, and under side of body yellowish-grey. {61}Length of body, 8½ inches; tail, 13 inches; skull high and arched; outer and hinder portion of ear-capsules (periotic-bones) and squamosal swollen; frontal bone longer than in _Opolemur_ and _Chirogale_; occiput less sloping from behind and above forwards and outwards. Upper median and posterior molars with one inner and two outer cusps, united by a curved ridge, cingulate all round, and with a small cusp or cingulum at the hind inner angle; posterior pre-molars smaller and shorter than the molars, with strong and vertically longer outer cusp, and a much more feeble inner cusp; posterior lower molar lengthened behind by a fifth cusp.

DISTRIBUTION.--Coquerel's Dwarf-Lemur, or the "Sisiba," as the natives call it, is found round Passandava Bay, near Mouroundava, on the south-west coast of Madagascar.

HABITS.--The Sisiba, like its congeners, is nocturnal and arboreal, constructing in the trees a nest of twigs. It feeds on fruits and leaves.

THE FAT-TAILED LEMURS. GENUS OPOLEMUR.

_Opolemur_, J. E. Gray, P. Z. S., 1872, p. 853.

The term _Opolemur_, by which this genus is designated, is not altogether appropriate, and is, indeed, even somewhat misleading. It was applied in the first instance to the typical species on account of the thickened base of its tail, which in the type-specimen was a very conspicuous character. The deposit of fat by which this thickening was caused was not then known to be merely transitory--a store of food collected at the base of the tail and on other parts of the body, to supply the needs of the animal during the arid and foodless season, when it retires into a state of torpidity. It is now known that {62}other species of this sub-family (as we have seen above in the case of the Mouse-Lemurs), which are generically distinct from _Opolemur_, share this peculiarity.

The two species included in this genus are intermediate between the Mouse-Lemurs and the Dwarf-Lemurs, and are really more nearly related to the former than to the latter. The skull is flat and depressed as in _Chirogale_, and the brain-case small and almost vertical behind. The posterior foramina in the palate are small. In respect to their dentition, the cusps of the upper molars are blunter and shorter than in the Mouse-Lemurs, but less so than among the Dwarf-Lemurs; the hind inner cusps of the anterior and median molars are large, and the ridge from the inner cusp is less intimately joined to the two outer cusps than in the Dwarf-Lemurs.

I. SAMAT'S FAT-TAILED LEMUR. OPOLEMUR SAMATI.

_Chirogalus samatii_, Grandid., Rev. et Mag. de Zool., xx., p. 49 (1868).

_Opolemur milii_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1872, pp. 853-4, pl. lxx., fig. i. (in part).

_Opolemur samati_, Forsyth Major, Nov. Zool., vol. i., p. 18 (1894).

CHARACTERS.--Head, Cat-like; hair on body and tail very short, longer at tip of tail; tail very thick at base, from accumulation of fat, especially in the month of August. Length, 7½ inches; tail, 6½.

Fur above dark grey, washed with ferruginous, the tips of the hairs silvery-grey; tail faded rufous; a white spot on the forehead, becoming a line down the centre of the nose; a black circle round the eyes; ears slightly longer; tail shorter {63}and thicker proportionately than in _Chirogale milii_; under surface and inner side of limbs fulvous.

DISTRIBUTION.--This species, according to M. Grandidier, to whom all our knowledge of it is due, has been obtained on the River Tsidsibon, but is reported from other places on the west coast of Madagascar.

II. THOMAS' FAT-TAILED LEMUR. OPOLEMUR THOMASI.

_Opolemur thomasi_, Forsyth Major, Nov. Zool., vol. i., p. 20, Taf. i., fig. 1 Taf., ii., figs. 2 and 11 (1894).

CHARACTERS.--Nearly allied to _O. samati_. Head broad, flat; snout short; ears short. Above grey, with a wash of rusty brown, the tips of the hair glistening silvery-grey; top of head somewhat darker; under side of tail lighter; a white band between the eyes extending down to the nose-pad, which is naked; round the neck a white ring broken by a grey spot; ring round the eyes, and hair of ears, brownish-black; cheeks, lips, chin, throat, breast, belly, inner side of limbs, upper side of hands and feet, yellowish-white, and inclining to greyish-white, where it merges into the upper side. Length, 9¼ inches; tail, 8 inches.

Skull depressed; brain-case flat and short; facial portion blunt; inter-parietal bone broad and short. Posterior upper pre-molar broader than the median, and broader than the same tooth in _O. samati_, the median pre-molar lacking the inner cusp. Nasal bones sharply keeled in the mid-line.

DISTRIBUTION.--Of this species only the three specimens, in the British Museum, are yet known. They were obtained near Fort Dauphin, on the south-east coast of Madagascar.

HABITS.--Nothing is known of the habits of either of these two species of _Opolemur_.

{64}THE TRUE LEMURS. SUB-FAMILY III. LEMURINÆ.

The third sub-family of the _Lemuridæ_ contains the True Lemurs, which are characterised by the possession of a soft, thick, and woolly fur, the head rounded behind, with a specially elongated muzzle. They have small and oval ears, with the exterior aspect covered with long hair, but the inside naked, except round the margin. Their hind-limbs do not show so great a disproportionate length compared to that of the fore-limbs, as in the next sub-family, the _Indrisinæ_. The ankle-bones (_tarsus_) are only slightly elongated, and their toes are not united by a membrane. Their long and bushy tail is sometimes longer and sometimes shorter than the body. The females produce one or two, nearly naked, young at a birth, the mammæ being either two or four in number. The skull presents a central ridge on the frontal bone, and its facial portion is much elongated, the inter-orbital space being depressed and wider, and the orbits also directed somewhat outward and less straightforwardly than in several of the genera already noticed. The maxillary bones are generally much reduced, and the incisor teeth carried by them not unfrequently entirely aborted. The teeth in this Sub-family vary in number from 32 to 36, the dental formula being I(0-2)/2, C1/1, P3/3, M3/3. The foot is slightly elongated by the lengthening of the _naviculare_ bone of the ankle, the others being short. In the wrist (_carpus_) the central bone (_centrale_) may be present or absent; its absence, however, is a character which is met with otherwise only in Man, the Chimpanzees, and the Endrina and some other Lemurs, to be described later on. The cæcum is not markedly developed.

{65}The external coloration of the species of this Sub-family is remarkably variable, the variation being chiefly in the upper portion of the hairs, as their base is generally slate-grey.

The sub-family _Lemurinæ_ embraces four genera: the True Lemurs (_Lemur_), of which there are now eight recognised species; the Hattock (_Mixocebus_), with a solitary species; the Gentle-Lemurs (_Hapalemur_), containing two species, and the Sportive-Lemurs (_Lepidolemur_), with seven species. Some of the most elegantly coloured species in the Animal Kingdom belong to this group. They are gregarious, and most of them arboreal, though some are not so. They form rather an exception to the general rule among Lemurs, in not being nocturnal. They feed during the morning and evening, emitting loud cries as they move about, and during the heat of the day, they often lie stretched out in the sun; at night they rest with their long tails coiled about them. In their mode of progression they are more quadrupedal than most of the other Lemuroids; they jump, walk, or run on all fours. Their food consists of fruits, birds' eggs, birds and insects. Their infants are carried about close to, and concealed amid, the hair of their mother's breast; when older they cling to her back.

The True Lemurs are all inhabitants of Madagascar and of the adjacent Comoro Islands. They are unknown on the African continent.

THE TRUE LEMURS. GENUS LEMUR.

_Prosimia_, Brisson, Regn. Anim., p. 220 (1756).

_Lemur_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 44 (1766).

_Varecia_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 135.

This genus contains the typical Lemurs, in their most restricted sense. They are characterised by having a very {66}Fox-like head, and an elongate and tapering face, shelving on each side of the nose. A long fringe of hair surrounds their chin and cheeks. They have all large and tufted ears, and large eyes, with superciliary ridges rising higher than the forehead. Their tail is always half as long as the body at least. The fore-limbs are somewhat shorter than the hind-limbs, and both the wrist and ankles are haired. The ankle is not elongated, nor is the great toe as large as in the next family--the _Indrisinæ_. On the outside of the palm of the hand and under the base of the fingers are situated fleshy pads, giving them greater grasping power. The True Lemurs have only one pair of mammæ, which are situated on the breast.

In the skull the facial region is much elongated, its measurement from the anterior margin of the orbit forward being greater than the longitudinal diameter of the orbit, and the space between the eye-sockets is narrow and depressed. The bony palate is short, extending back only to the posterior end of the median molar. The posterior portion of the ear-capsules (the mastoidal and squamosal regions) is not inflated--a character which separates this genus from _Galago_. The pre-maxillary bones are large and protrude in front, if the skull be viewed from the side. The angle of the lower jaw is not produced downwards and backwards. In some species a large maxillary sinus projects into the anterior part of the orbit; in some also the _foramen rotundum_ does not coalesce with the sphenoidal fissure (see page 11), but has a distinct opening. The teeth are of the normal number, namely thirty-six. In the upper jaw the incisors are small, sub-equal, and situated anteriorly to the canines and are not in contact with each other, or with the latter. The canines are very large, tusk-like, and set in an excavated notch on the jaw. All the pre-molars {67}have one main cusp to the outside; the anterior pre-molar, however, has a supplementary minute front cusp, while the median has in addition one large interior cusp; both it and the posterior pre-molars are vertically taller than their anterior fellow. The molars have two inner cusps, and two main outer cusps with a supplementary minute fore cusp, as well as two cusps on the ridge joining the fore and hind outer cusps; the posterior molar--the smallest of the three--is, however, larger than the posterior pre-molar, and has only the front inner cusp and no supplementary external cusp. The lower jaw shows a gap between the canine and the anterior pre-molar. The anterior pre-molar, which is vertically taller than the rest, is edged and cutting, taking the place of a tusk; the anterior and median pre-molars are also separated by a small space; the latter, which is equal in vertical height to the posterior, has an inner cusp and a low cusped heel. The molars have two outer main cusps, of which the front one is more developed than the hind one, and two inner cusps, often with an intermediate cusp between them; the pair of fore and the pair of hind cusps are joined by transverse ridges, and the two outside cusps by a backwardly directed semicircular ridge; the posterior molar is four-cusped.

The dorsal and lumbar vertebræ together do not exceed twenty in number.

The hind portion of the cerebellum is large, which points to intellectual inferiority in the True Lemurs as compared with the Apes.

The species of this genus are all confined to the island of Madagascar and some of the smaller adjacent islands. They are gregarious, living in large companies in the forests, feeding on fruits, insects, and such small animals, birds, and lizards {68}as they may capture. Like the Howlers of S. America and the Gibbons of the East Indies, they are very noisy. Their agility is wonderfully great, and is displayed chiefly in the evening. During the brighter hours of the day they sit somnolent, either alone with their heads buried between their arms, their tail coiled round the neck, or in twos or threes embracing each other with their arms. In walking they use their fore-limbs less as hands, and more as feet than do the members of the next family--the _Indrisinæ_--both when on the ground, as well as when climbing among the trees.

I. THE RUFFED LEMUR. LEMUR VARIUS.

_Lemur macaco_, _var._ Schreber, Säugeth., p. 142, pl. 40 B (1775).

_Lemur macaco et L. ruber_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 159 (1812).

_Lemur varius_, Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 71, no. 2 (1851); Schl., Mus. Pays. Bas., vii., p. 301 (1876); Milne-Edwards et Grandid., H. N. Madag., Mamm., Atlas, pls. 123-129 (1690).

(_Plate VII._)

CHARACTERS.--Face and top of head black; a stripe over the eyes, ridge of nose and tip of nostrils, creamy-white; a patch on the shoulder, the inside of the fore-legs, the inner surface of body, a patch on the front of the thighs, the inner side of the limbs, and the feet, black; tail black, washed with white on the upper surface; rest of body creamy-white.

PLATE VII.

{69}The Ruffed or Variable Lemur derives its name from the remarkable variability of its external markings: so much is this the case, indeed, that not a few of them have been described as distinct species. This variability appears to be entirely individual, and is by no means constant. The Black-mantled variety has the back of the neck, the shoulders and interscapular region entirely black. Another form has the ears, the ruff, and a bar across the muzzle extending over and in front of the eyes, joining the ruff, pure white; the fore-arms, legs, a bar across the buttocks joining the thighs greyish-white; face, legs, and tail black; a ring encircling the body like a belt between the fore- and hind-limbs, yellowish-white; rest of body dark reddish-brown. A third variety has the ears, ruff, and outer side of the arms and legs pure white; the flanks rusty-red, the rest of the body black.

THE RED-RUFFED LEMUR (_L. ruber_) is a very well-marked variety of the same species, and may easily be recognised by the ears, ruff and whole upper surface of body being dark rusty-red, with the outer surface of thighs and legs white; or, the ears, ruff and whole upper surface (except a white patch on the back of the neck) may be dark brown, with a white garter on each ankle; otherwise it may be entirely black. It is this variety which we have figured on Plate VII.

DISTRIBUTION.--Throughout the north-east of Madagascar.

HABITS.--The Ruffed Lemur, called by the natives "Varikossi," has a loud, harsh and powerful voice, which can be heard for a long distance.

II. THE BLACK LEMUR. LEMUR MACACO.

_Lemur macaco_, Linn., S. N., i., p. 44 (1766); Schl. Mus. Pays. Bas., vii., p. 302 (1876); Milne-Edwards et Grandid., H. N. Madag., Mamm., pls. 131, 132 (1890).

_Lemur niger_, Schreb., Säugeth., pl. 40 A (1775).

_Lemur leucomystax_, Bartlett, P. Z. S., 1862, p. 347, pl. xli. (female).

_Varecia nigra_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 136.

{70}CHARACTERS.--Ears tufted, with long hairs continuing down the side of the neck to the angle of the mouth.

MALE.--Entirely black.

FEMALE.--Formerly described as a distinct species, and known as the White-whiskered Lemur (_L. leucomystax_). Face and lips black, darkest on the nose, round the eyes and hinder part of the head; forehead blackish-grey; whiskers and ear-tufts white, almost concealing the ears. General colour of body rich ferruginous brown, darker on the middle of the back; arms, legs and neck reddish-yellow; tail whiter; throat, under side of body and inner side of limbs creamy-white.

There is a considerable amount of variation in this species. Some individuals have the lower back and base of tail white; the belly greyish-white, the feet brown, and the toes black. In others the black frontal spot is wanting, the back of the head being reddish-white; the basal half of the tail is dark orange-red, remainder of the body rich rusty-brown. On the fore-arm is a cluster of stiff hairs, which occurs in association with a large underlying sweat-gland, whose function is not yet understood.

DISTRIBUTION.--The north-west coast of Madagascar.

HABITS.--The special habits of this species of Lemur are unknown, but in all probability they agree with those of the group in general, as given under the heading of the genus. It is said to utter a coarse grunting call-note.

The young males are born black like the father, and the young females have the colour of the mother. Dr. Sclater has observed that in specimens in confinement in the Zoological Gardens, in London, the female carried her young one transversely across her belly, its long tail passing round her back and then round its own neck.

{71}III. THE MONGOOSE LEMUR. LEMUR MONGOZ.

_Lemur mongoz_, Linn., S. N., p. 44, no. 2 (1766); Scl., P. Z. S., 1871, p. 231, figs, 1, 2; Schl., Mus. Pays. Bas., vii. p. 312 (1876); Milne-Edw. et Grandid., H. N. Madag., Mamm., pls. 133-153 (1890).

_Lemur anjuanensis_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 161 (1812).

_Prosimia melanocephala_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 137, pl. xviii.

_Prosimia xanthomystax_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 138, pl. xvii.

CHARACTERS.--Fur woolly and thick; eyelashes long; some long bristles behind the angle of the mouth; face long; no ear-tufts and whiskers, but a sub-auricular patch of long hair; some long hairs on the digits; tail bushy.

MALE.--Head, face, streak across the crown of head and down the forehead brownish-black; ears of the same colour, white-fringed; cheeks and a spot on the sides of the forehead iron-grey; sub-auricular cheek-patch white, slightly washed with rufous; rest of upper surface reddish-grey; tail darker; chest and under side rufous-grey.

FEMALE.--Rufous-brown above; neck and shoulders white; throat white; frontal spot black; face whitish.

The colour of the fur in this species varies to an extraordinary degree, and before this fact was recognised, a number of supposed species, founded on the colour of the animals alone, were described. In course of time, however, as specimens were obtained in greater number, it became evident that the variation was only in the colour of the fur, and that there was none in their anatomical and osteological structure to warrant their being considered distinct species. They have, therefore, all been now classified by Professor Milne-Edwards and M. Grandidier in their great work on the Natural History {72}of Madagascar, as so many varieties of one species, _Lemur mongoz_. Of these varieties, the most important are:--

THE RED-FOOTED LEMUR. LEMUR RUFIPES.

MALE.--Face in front of a line above the eyes, dark reddish-brown; hands and feet bright rufous-brown; under side of body and inner side of limbs reddish-grey.

FEMALE.--Wrist and ankles with adjacent part of limbs above brownish-red.

THE RED-FRONTED LEMUR. LEMUR RUFIFRONS.

MALE.--Grizzly, washed with rufous; fore-arms, hands, feet, haunches, outer side of legs, and top of the head between the ears, rufous.

FEMALE.--Grizzly brown; top of head grizzly black; patch over and round the eyes greyish-white.

THE GREY-HEADED LEMUR. LEMUR CINEREICEPS.

Face and frontal spot black; cheeks, sides, top of head, side of neck, and outside of ears grey; rest of body orange-red.

THE COLLARED LEMUR. LEMUR COLLARIS.

MALE.--Head blackish-brown; cheeks, sides of throat, mark over eyes, and base of ears, yellowish-grey, washed with orange-red or rufous; a spot at the side of the nose, grey; chin, throat, and under side of the body, blackish-grey.

FEMALE.--Centre of nose black; sides of nose, chin, cheeks, including the eyes, ears, sides of throat, iron-grey, slightly flushed at the lower side of the neck under the ears with reddish-orange. Specimens from the island of Mayotte (_L. mayottensis_, Schl.) differ from _L. collaris_ in having a blackish spot over the root of the tail.

{73}THE RUFOUS LEMUR. LEMUR RUFUS.

Has a yellowish-white frontal band and whiskers.

THE BLACK-FACED LEMUR. LEMUR NIGRIFRONS.

Has a brownish-black band over the forehead, including the eyes; muzzle, patch on top of head including the ears, the side of the head below the ears, sub-auricular tufts, throat and under surface, grey.