HABITS.--The Ring-tailed Lemur--one of the handsomest species of the genus and the only one in which the tail is not uniformly coloured--is of gentle manners, active, and graceful. According to the notes of the Rev. G. A. Shaw, as recorded in a paper in the Zoological Society's "Proceedings," it lives among the rocks where a few stunted trees occur, and over this rocky ground it can easily travel, in places where it is impossible for the natives, although bare-footed, to follow it. The palms of its hands and feet are smooth and leather-like, enabling the animal to apply them firmly to the wet rocks. This Lemur feeds on bananas and wild figs. In the winter its chief sustenance consists of the prickly-pear, peeling off the spiny skin with its long upper canines. According to the same observer, this Lemur rarely drinks water; indeed, it is said that the species living in the west of Madagascar, including two kinds of White Lemur, subsist without water, while those on the east coast invariably drink water with their meals. When fighting, the Ring-tailed Lemur scratches vigorously and strikes out with its hands. {78}THE HATTOCKS. GENUS MIXOCEBUS. _Mixocebus_, Peters, M. B. Akad. Berlin, 1874. p. 690. This genus contains but one species, whose characters are therefore those of the genus also. THE HATTOCK. MIXOCEBUS CANICEPS. _Mixocebus caniceps_, Peters, M. B. Akad. Berlin, 1874, p. 690, pl. i., pl. ii. (Skull.) CHARACTERS.--Snout sharp, with a naked nose-pad; eyes very large; ears very short, rounded, higher than broad, scarcely appearing beyond the fur, and sparsely covered with short hair; limbs long, the digits with unkeeled nails; tail as long as the body, or slightly longer; inter-maxillary bones more prominent than in the species of the next genus, and containing a small incisor tooth on each side; no inter-parietal bone; upper canine not vertically longer than the grinders; the upper pre-molar and molar series of teeth arranged to converge but slightly anteriorly, forming, as seen from the front, a somewhat convex line, differing in this from some species of _Lepidolemur_, in which these teeth are arranged in a nearly straight line.