Part 20

Lemur griseus, Geoffr., Mém. sur les Makis. Mag. Enc., i., p. 48 (1796).

Hapalemur griseus, Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 74 (1851); Mivart, P. Z. S., 1864, p. 613 (Skull); Schleg., Mus. P. B., vii., p. 361 (1876).

Hapalemur olivaceus, Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 75 (1851); Schl., Mus. P. B., vii., p. 316 (1876).

Cheirogaleus griseus, Giebel., Säugeth., p. 1018 (1856); V. der Hoeven, Tijds. Natuurl. Gesch., p. 38, pl. i., fig. 1 (1844).

Hapalolemur griseus, Scl., P. Z. S., 1863, p. 161; Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 828, pl. lii.

(Plate VIII.)

CHARACTERS.--Fur long and soft, not woolly; ears short, hairy, with long black vibrissæ between them; tail bushy, and as long as the body; general shade above greyish Mouse-colour, washed with rufous and speckled with black on the crown, back and external surface of limbs; shoulders and fore-limbs bluish-grey; cheeks, throat, breast, and inner side of limbs ochraceous white; under side of body whitish-yellow; tail and hands grey, washed with black. Body and tail equal, 15 inches in length.

Facial portion of skull short; brain-case rounded; lower jaw shorter and higher than in Lemurs generally; great toe large and broad; on the inner side of both arms close to the wrist occurs a rough patch (extending down to the bare skin of the palm) corresponding to a gland beneath, {82}in the male, spine-like, while in the female hairy processes are present, together with a tuft of long hairs; external to this patch is a callous pad; mammæ opening on the shoulder; intestine large; cæcum small.

YOUNG.--Reddish-yellow below.

DISTRIBUTION.--The Grey Gentle-Lemur inhabits the eastern side of the Betsileo province of Madagascar.

HABITS.--The "Bokombouli," as the natives name this animal, is the smallest of any of the True Lemurs. It is nocturnal, and lives, according to the Rev. G. A. Shaw, among the bamboos in the higher-level forests of the island. Its lower incisors are used as scrapers, and nearly all its teeth are serrated and very effective in cutting off the bamboo shoots, on which it feeds. To enable it to grasp smooth surfaces, such as the stems of the bamboo and other trees it frequents, it possesses a broad pad under each great toe.

II. THE BROAD-NOSED GENTLE-LEMUR. HAPALEMUR SIMUS.

Hapalemur (Prolemur) simus, J. E. Gray, Cat. Monkeys, Brit. Mus. App., p. 133 (1870); id. P. Z. S., 1870, p. 828, pl. lii., pp. 829, 830, figs. 1-4 (Skull).

Prolemur simus, J. E. Gray, P. Z. S., 1872, p. 851.

Hapalemur simus, Beddard, P. Z. S., 1884, p. 392; Jentink, Notes Leyd. Mus., vii., p. 33 (1885).

CHARACTERS.--Nose broad and truncated; ears short, covered with long hair on the outside and along the margin inside.

Very similar to H. griseus; head and upper back dark reddish-grey, faintly washed with rufous; sides of head, neck, and region round the eyes lighter; sides of nose and region between the eyes black; ears dirty grey; lower back, sides of {83}body, and outer surface of limbs sooty-grey, with here and there a wash of rufous; the patch on the end of the rump and upper part of the base of the tail uniform pale yellowish rust-colour; remainder of tail sooty-grey; from the chin to the chest yellowish-grey; under side of body and inner side of arms pale sooty-grey.

No spines on the fore-arm above the wrist as in H. griseus. In the skull, the nose is broad, square, and truncated; the pre-maxillæ very small; the lower jaw weak and narrow in front.

DISTRIBUTION.--Only known from Madagascar.

HABITS.--The habits of the Broad-nosed Lemur are said to differ in no respect from those of the foregoing species.

THE SPORTIVE-LEMURS. GENUS LEPIDOLEMUR.

Lepilemur, Is. Geoffr., Cat. Méth. Primates, p. 75 (1851).

Lepidolemur, Peters, M. B. Akad. Berlin, 1874, p. 690 (1874).

This genus contains, according to Dr. Forsyth Major, as many as seven species. This excellent comparative anatomist has made a very careful revision of the group, and the present writer has gratefully to acknowledge from him many valuable notes incorporated under this section, as well as his kindness in supplying for publication the diagnoses of his new species.

Dr. Major divides these seven species into two series:--(A) a group of four larger species, and (B) a group of three smaller species.

The members of this genus are smaller than the True Lemurs of the genus Lemur. Their head is conical and short, their ears large, round, and membranaceous, and the tail is shorter than the body. In this latter character and in their shorter limbs they differ from Mixocebus. The fourth finger and toe are the longest digits of their respective extremities, the nails of all are keeled, and that of the great toe is very large and flat.

{84}In the skull, the muzzle is longer than the longitudinal diameter of its orbit in the series of larger species (Section A); in the smaller species (Section B) the muzzle is shorter.

Their dentition presents several important characters. The series of upper molars and pre-molars form almost a straight line, both sides being almost parallel, or only slightly convergent towards the front. In the upper jaw the incisors are wanting; the canines are very large and grooved internally, and have a posterior heel. There is no gap between them and the anterior pre-molar, which last is vertically taller than the rest, and has one cusp to the outside, whereas the median and posterior have an inner cusp as well. The anterior and median molars have the inner hind cusp rudimentary, but the cingulum rises into a minute cusp, both at the fore and hind edge; the posterior molar is three-cusped. The whole of the cheek-teeth gradually broaden and decrease in vertical height from before backward as far as the median molar. In the lower jaw the anterior pre-molars are large, canine-like, and decumbent, and have a strong process on their anterior margin (resembling that in the corresponding tooth in Indris); the median and posterior pre-molars have one external cusp, and the latter tooth one interior cusp in addition. The anterior and median molars have a rudimentary fifth cusp, which is large in the posterior molar.