A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 1 (of 2)Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Science
A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 1 (of 2)
Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Primates
_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.
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