Chapter II: The Dusky-Handed Tarsier. Tarsius Fuscus

_? Lemur podje_, Kerr, Linn. Anim. Kingdom, p. 86 (1792).

_Tarsius fuscus, s. fuscomanus_, Fischer, Anat. der Maki, pp. 3, 7
(1784).

_Tarsius fuscomanus_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 168 (1812); Max Weber,
Zool. Ergebn. Reis. Nederl. Ost-Indien, iii., p. 264 (1893).

_Tarsius fischeri_, Burm. Tarsius, pp. 29, 129 (1846).

CHARACTERS.--Closely related to the preceding species in size and other characters, but distinguished by the colour of the hands, which are dark brown.

DISTRIBUTION.--Inhabits the islands of the Indian Archipelago, farther to the eastward than those in which _Tarsius Tarsius_ is found. It has been recorded from Celebes, and the neighbouring groups of Salayer and Sanghir, and from some of the Philippine Islands, such as Bohol and Mindanao.

HABITS.--The habits of both species of Tarsier are identical, and may be described together. They are almost entirely nocturnal and arboreal animals, rarely, of their own accord, coming to the ground. They move from place to place by leaping along the larger branches, or from tree to tree, even when these stand several feet distant. When they do descend, however, they advance on the ground by the same curious Frog-like leaps, without bringing their fore-limbs down to the ground. The Tarsier is said to climb easily, even without grasping, by means of the round discs on its slender finger-tips, which, like suckers, enable it to hold on by the side pressure of its limbs to any smooth surface, such as the stems of the {22}bamboo-brakes which it frequents. Mr. Charles Hose, in his "Mammals of Borneo," states that, in that island, the Tarsier is found in the jungles of the low country, skipping about from branch to branch. According to the notes of this excellent field-naturalist, it has a habit of turning its head almost completely round without moving the rest of its body. This very remarkable creature lives in pairs in the tropical forests, in holes in the tree stems, or under their roots, feeding chiefly on insects and small lizards, which, as Mr. Cuming has recorded, it holds by its fore-paws while devouring, sitting up the while on its posterior. In drinking it is also said to lap water like a Cat. The Tarsier seldom makes any kind of noise, but when it does emit a sound, it is a sharp, shrill call. The female produces one, rarely two, young at a birth; these are similar to the parents. They are covered with hair, and have the eyes open. Mr. Hose further states that the mother often carries her young one about in her mouth, after the manner of a Cat. On the second day after its birth, the infant Tarsier can move about by itself. By the natives of Sumatra, and, indeed, of most of the islands inhabited by these animals, the Tarsiers are held in superstitious dread, their presence in the neighbourhood of the rice-fields being supposed to portend misfortune to the owner or to some member of his family.

Their elongated ankle-bones, and their leaping habits, seem to indicate that the Galagos and the Chirogales, or Mouse-Lemurs, are the nearest relatives of the Tarsiers.

THE TYPICAL LEMURS. FAMILY LEMURIDÆ.

Under this family heading are included the whole of the remaining members of the Sub-order. They all possess certain main characters in common; but on account of the presence or {23}absence of certain subordinate features in some of the groups, the family has been further subdivided into four sub-families. The more important characters which they have in common are the thick woolly fur, the Dog- or Fox-like snout and nostrils--a character obviously distinguishing them from the bulk of the Monkeys, in which the nose forms a subsidiary feature, and is not the main part of the face,--and especially the number and form of their teeth. In the centre of the upper jaw there is always a toothless gap, or _diastema_, on each side of which the teeth are arranged according to the following formula: I2/2, C1/1, P3/3, M3/3 = 36. Among the Endrinas, however, the formula is I2/2, C1/(1 or 0), P2/2, M3/3 = 32 or 30 in number. In the upper jaw the incisors are small and perpendicular; but in the lower, where they are long and narrow, they protrude horizontally in front, and then follow, parallel and close to them, the somewhat thicker canines, the six teeth together forming a comb-like series. The anterior pre-molar is always vertically longer than the others, and assumes the form and function of the canines in other animals.

In some genera (e.g., _Propithecus_), Milne-Edwards has observed that in the young animal the cerebellum is more overlapped by the cerebrum (or main brain) than it is later in life; and Dr. Major believes that the _Lemuridæ_ are highly specialised members of the Sub-order, developed from ancient types which were not unlike the American Monkeys of the family _Cebidæ_.

The Typical Lemurs are arranged in the following four sub-divisions: The Pottos and Slow-paced Lemurs (_Lorisinæ_); the Galagos and Mouse-Lemurs (_Galaginæ_); the True Lemurs (_Lemurinæ_); and the Endrinas (_Indrisinæ_).

{24}THE SLOW-LEMURS. SUB-FAMILY I. LORISINÆ.

This Sub-family has been constituted to receive a small number of Lemurs, which, although occupying limited areas in two widely separated continents--one genus being African and the others Asiatic--present certain characters in common. They are recognised by having soft woolly fur, a triangular head and pointed face, very large and staring eyes, set close together, while their ears are naked along their margin. Their fore- and hind-limbs are nearly equal. In the Asiatic genera the index finger is very small, while in the African it is quite rudimentary and nail-less. In both groups the thumb diverges widely from the other fingers, and the great toe is directed backwards, but the ankle-bones of the foot are not elongated. The tail is either so short as to be quite concealed in the fur, or is less than one-third of the length of the body.

In the skull the squamosal region with the outer and posterior portion of the ear capsules (the periotic) are inflated. The dental formula of the Slow-Lemurs is the same as given above for the family generally. In the upper jaw, the two incisors are usually equal, but, if unequal, the inner incisor is always the larger (Fig. 6); the vertically long canine, which is separated by a gap from the anterior pre-molar, presents both in front and behind a neck or cingulum, which is cusped behind; the pre-molars are canine-like, and have the cingulum produced behind into a heel (or talon). The anterior of the three is {25}vertically longer than the median, while both the median and posterior have, to the outside, one main cusp with a minute one on each side of it, and two inner cusps; the molars are all cingulate, and have to the outside two main cusps (separated by a minute cusp) and two inner cusps, the outer and inner cusps alternating. Of the anterior and median molars, the two main outside cusps are sub-equal, and are flanked on each side by a minute cusp; the posterior molar is short and wide, and has only one minute cusp in front of its anterior main cusp. Of the lower jaw, the pre-molars are canine-like, the anterior being vertically long and having a posterior heel; the posterior pre-molar, which differs in size from the anterior, presents two main cusps to the outside and one minute cusp in front; the molars, both anterior and median, are four-cusped, with a minute cusp in front, the posterior being five-cusped, while all have their front cusps vertically taller than the hind ones.

Among the _Lorisinæ_ the dorsal and lumbar vertebræ together number from twenty-one to twenty-three. The cæcum, at the junction of the larger and smaller intestine, is long. The main artery of the fore- and hind-limbs breaks up into a _rete mirabile_ of numerous small parallel branches.

The Slow-Lemurs are distributed in the western parts of the African continent, and in the Indian, Malayan and Indo-Chinese portions of the Oriental region. It is a remarkable fact that this group should be confined to one portion of Africa and be entirely absent from Madagascar, the country where the Lemurs form so characteristic a feature in the fauna.

The _Lorisinæ_ embrace three genera, the Pottos (_Perodicticus_) from the African continent; the Slender Loris (_Loris_), and the Slow-Loris (_Nycticebus_), both of which inhabit the Oriental region.

{26}THE POTTOS. GENUS PERODICTICUS.

_Perodicticus_, Bennett, P. Z. S., 1839, p. 109; Huxley, P. Z. S., 1864,
p. 235.

_Arctocebus_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 150; Mivart, P.Z.S., 1864, p. 644.

This genus contains two species, both confined to the West Coast of Africa. The Pottos are slender-bodied animals, with oval heads and blunt Dog-shaped muzzles. Their eyes are large and full, and their external ears erect, with shelf-like lamellæ inside. They have slender and sub-equal limbs. The second digit of the fore-limb is rudimentary and nail-less; it is supported on one wrist-bone, and has two phalanges or finger-bones. The great toe is opposable, and the fourth and fifth digits of both limbs are united together by membrane as far as the first joint. The processes of the vertebræ in the neck and back are long and protruding. The tail is very short.

The pre-maxillæ (which carry the incisor teeth) do not project in front, nor does the bony palate extend farther back than the end of the posterior molar teeth. Of the upper teeth the incisors are equal in size (Fig. 6); the median and posterior pre-molars have on their crowns three cusps, of which the two outer are the larger; the anterior and median molars are cingulate, have four-cusped crowns, and are larger than the pre-molars; the posterior is narrow from before backwards, and its crown presents only two or three cusps. Of the lower teeth, the anterior pre-molar is recurved and larger than the canine, with a ridge on its inner face and a cusped heel behind; the median and posterior ones are shorter than their anterior fellow, each having a strong posterior cusped heel; the anterior and median {27}molars have their crowns four-cusped and are nearly equal in length; the crown of the posterior molar is 4-5-cusped, and has a ridge joining its anterior heel to its front outer cusp. Transverse and oblique ridges are well marked on the crowns of both the upper and lower cheek-teeth.