Part 10

According to Dr. Forsyth Major, who has made the Lemuroidea a special study, the smaller African Galagos have departed less from the primitive Lemuroid type than the Madagascar genera, in which greater specialisation has taken place.

The members of the genus Galago are widely distributed on the African continent, but are unknown in Madagascar. They range throughout the dense forest regions, from Abyssinia in the north-east, to Senegambia in the west, and southward as far as Natal and Mozambique.

Almost all the Galagos are nocturnal. They are chiefly arboreal, and when they descend to the ground they advance by hops on their long hind-limbs. They feed chiefly on fruits, insects, birds, and birds' eggs.

I. GARNETT'S GALAGO. GALAGO GARNETTI.

Otolicnus garnettii, Ogilby, P. Z. S., 1838, p. 6.

Otolemur agisymbianus, Coquerel, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1859, p. 457.

Otogale garnettii, J. E. Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 140.

Galago garnettii, Sclater, P. Z. S., 1864, p. 711, pl. xi. Schlegel, Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 429 (1876).

CHARACTERS.--Head round; snout elongate, protruding over {41}the lower jaw; ears very long, wide and rounded; eyes large and approximated. Toes and fingers not united by a membrane. Posterior upper molar with its fourth cusp little developed; the posterior lower molar four-cusped.

Fur woolly, the basal part of the hair Mouse-grey, the tips dull yellowish-white. Ears greyish-black; face from the middle of crown along the nose and round the eyes greyish-white. Top of head and neck dark pepper-grey; rest of upper side yellowish-grey, with longer black hairs distributed over the body; outside of arms and legs washed faintly with faded rufous. Under side and inner side of arms and legs greyish-white. Tail brownish-red at base, darker at tip. Length, 8 inches; tail, 8¾ inches.

DISTRIBUTION.--East coast of Africa.

HABITS.--Garnett's Galago is essentially nocturnal in its habits, feeding on fruits. According to Mr. Bartlett, it exhibited in confinement no fear of Cats or Dogs, and was very sprightly and tricky. It kills all it can pounce upon and overpower. On the ground it jumps upright, like a Kangaroo, on its hind-limbs, without using its fore feet, covering several feet at a spring.

II. THE SENEGAL GALAGO. GALAGO SENEGALENSIS.

Galago du Sénégal, Geoffr., Mag. Encycl. Ann. 4^e, p. 1 (1796).

Galago senegalensis, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 166 (1812); Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 81 (1851); Schlegel, Mus. Pays Bas, vii., p. 329 (1876).

Galagoides senegalensis, Smith, S. Afr. Q. Journ., ii., pt. 1, p. 32 (1833).

Galago moholi, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Mamm., pls. 8, 8 bis (1839); Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 147.

{42}Otolicnus galago, Wagner in Schreber's Säug. Suppl., i., p. 292 (1840); Van der Hoeven, Tijdschr. Nat. Ges., xi., p. 41 (1844).

Otolicnus senegalensis, Peters, Reis Mozamb. Säug., p. 11 (1852).

Galago senaariensis, J. E. Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 147, Mivart, P. Z. S., 1864, p. 647.

Galago (Otolicnus) moholi, Mivart, P. Z. S., 1864, p. 647.

CHARACTERS.--Body slender; head broad and sub-globular; nose high and pointed; ears large, bare, and with narrow rounded tips; hind-limbs longer than the fore-; tail with longer hair at tip. Fur very thick and soft on body and tail. Upper side pinkish-grey, or faded white with a slight wash of pink; back, sides of body, and outer surface of limbs pearly to yellowish-white; sometimes a dark ring round the eyes; a streak down the nose white or yellowish-white; ears flesh-coloured, sprinkled with pure white down; head, face, whole of under sides and inner sides of limbs white, yellowish, or whitish-buff; tail yellowish or reddish brown, darker at tip, lighter beneath; upper surface of hands and feet white, washed with yellow. Length of body, 7-8½ inches; tail of about the same length. The male and female are of the same size and of the same colour, but the male is somewhat more washed with yellow. Muzzle shorter than the diameter of the eye-socket; the bony palate not extending past the hinder end of the median molar. Anterior and median upper molars slightly larger than the posterior pre-molar; the latter as well as the two anterior molars with a small cusp between the two front cusps.

DISTRIBUTION.--This beautiful little Lemur was first recorded from Senegal, in West Africa. It occurs, however, from about 25° S. lat. in South Africa northwards to Tete on the Zambesi, through the mountainous regions of East Africa, on the shores of Lake Nyasa, to as far north as Senaar.

PLATE IV.

{43}HABITS.--The Senegal Galago is nocturnal and arboreal, occurring in the forests singly or in pairs. It makes a nest of leaves in the fork of a tree, and during its diurnal rest it either retreats thither, or composes itself on a branch, unwilling to move, and staring at passers-by, with its tail invariably folded across its body and round its neck. After sunset, these Galagos become lively, and in their movements they evince great activity; they spring from branch to branch, and even from tree to tree, with extraordinary facility (as both Sir Andrew Smith and Sir John Kirk have recorded), often clearing at single leaps distances of six feet. When seen in the dim light they may easily be taken for Bats. "They always seize with one of their fore feet the branch upon which they intend to rest. In their manners they manifest considerable resemblance to Monkeys, particularly in their propensity to the practice of ridiculous grimaces." (Sir A. Smith.) In this habit they resemble also some species of the genus Lemur. Their food consists chiefly of fruits and of insects. The female produces generally two young at a birth.

III. ALLEN'S GALAGO. GALAGO ALLENI.

Galago allenii, Waterh., P. Z. S., 1837, p. 87; Sclater, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 375, pl. xxxii.

Galago allenii, var. gabonensis, Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 146.