CHARACTERS.--A slender-bodied animal covered with close, soft, and woolly fur. Head short and round; eyes very large; nose narrow and much pointed; ears small and haired externally; tips nude. Limbs long, remarkably slender and angularly bent; hands and feet covered with short hair; index-finger with three phalanges and finger-bones. Skull with eye-sockets closely approximating, in the centre separated only by a thin plate of bone; nasal and premaxillary bones prolonged forward to support the narrow pointed nose; cranium, along its base to end of nasal bones, two inches long, broader across the orbits than behind in front of the articulation of lower jaw; bony palate extending back beyond the {32}posterior molar tooth. In the upper jaw the incisors are small and equal (Fig. 6); posterior pre-molar similar to, but smaller than the anterior molar; anterior molar with the oblique ridge on crown well developed; crown of posterior molar four-cusped, that of the posterior lower molar five-cusped. Dorsal and lumbar vertebræ together, 23; caudal vertebræ, 6-8. The alimentary canal is four times the length of the body. ADULT.--Dingy grey above, darker on back, paler on lower back; the hairs tipped with white. Sides of body, outside of fore- and hind-limbs dingy white, with a faint rufous wash on the outside of the hind-limbs. Face and ring round eyes dark greyish-brown; streak along nose white, branching on forehead above the eyes on each side into a broad ring encircling the dark ocular ring; this frontal branch sometimes absent. Under side greyish-white. Hairs of fur greyish-white at base, dark in the middle, and tipped with white. Length, 8 inches. YOUNG.--More rust-coloured than the adult. DISTRIBUTION.--The Slender Loris is common in the lower forests of Ceylon and of Southern India, south of the Godaveri river, as well as in those of the Eastern Ghats. HABITS.--This curious, emaciated-looking, little creature is nocturnal, living entirely in trees. It sleeps during the day rolled up in a ball, with its head between its legs, grasping its perch with its hands. According to Jerdon these animals are occasionally brought in large numbers to the Madras market, their eyes being a favourite remedy of the Tamil doctors for ophthalmic diseases. In its movements it is slightly more active than the Slow-Loris. Its food consists of succulent leaves, honey, insects, birds' eggs, and small animals. PLATE III. [Illustration: THE JAVAN SLOW-LORIS.] {33}THE SLOW-LORIS. GENUS NYCTICEBUS. _Nycticebus_, Geoffr., Ann. du Mus., xix., p. 162 (1812). _Stenops_ (nec Illiger), Van der Hoeven, Tijdsch. Nat. Ges., xi., p. 39 (1844). _Bradycebus_, Cuv. et Geoffr., Mém. Class. Mamm. (1795). This genus, like the last, is represented by a single species, and its characters, therefore, are detailed below. I. THE JAVAN SLOW-LORIS. NYCTICEBUS TARDIGRADUS. _Lemur tardigradus_, Linn., S. N., i., p. 44 (1766, pt.).