YOUNG.--Ashy-grey, slightly washed with red. DISTRIBUTION.--The Woolly Avahi seems to inhabit only the forests of the parallel ranges of the mountains which face the whole eastern coast of Madagascar; it extends round the bay of Passandava on the west coast, opposite to the northern termination of this eastern range of mountains. HABITS.--This species--the smallest of the _Indrisinæ_--being essentially nocturnal, is torpid during the day, and is the wildest and least docile of the family. The first specimen of the "Avahi," the name by which this animal is known among the Anatala tribe, was brought to Europe by Sonnerat, the French traveller, in 1781, and nearly half a century elapsed before a second one was obtained. Since then several specimens have been kept in captivity in the different zoological gardens of Europe. THE SIFAKAS. GENUS PROPITHECUS. _Propithecus_, Bennett, P. Z. S., 1832, p. 20; Milne-Edwards and Grandid., Hist. Nat. Madag., Mamm., i., p. 288 (with full synonymy). {97}The characters which distinguish this genus from _Avahis_ and _Indris_ are the following: The fur with which they are covered is more silky than woolly, and in general appearance is white, more or less washed with yellow, varying to red or black. The head is very slightly longer than it is broad, with a black and almost naked muzzle; the ears, half buried in the fur, are flatter and wider than in _Indris_, the inner surface being naked and black, and the outer haired. The nostrils are large and semilunar in shape. The tail is long. The index-finger is not united by a membrane to the others; their hands and feet are in a much less degree organs of prehension than in most of the other Lemurs. The skull in proportionate length is intermediate between that of _Avahis_ and _Indris_. Compared with _Avahis_ it is less vaulted, its muzzle is longer, and the orbits are smaller. The space between the eyes is high, and not depressed, on account of the presence of a large air-cavity in the underlying bone. Their nasal bones do not reach as far forward in front as the level of the incisor teeth. In the dentition of the upper jaw, the incisors protrude somewhat in front, and are dilated laterally in a regular series--thus distinguishing the genus _Propithecus_ from _Lemur_,--the inner incisors being larger than the outer ones, with their tips approximating. Between the canine and the anterior pre-molar there is a short gap. The anterior and median molars have the cusps of the crown alternate; the posterior has them opposite. In the lower jaw the incisors are shorter and stronger than in _Avahis_, and the molars are four-cusped. The genus _Propithecus_ contains three species; (1) The Diademed Sifaka (_P. diadema_), (2) Verreaux's Sifaka (_P. {98}verreauxi_), both having numerous very marked varieties; and (3) the Crowned Sifaka (_P. coronatus_).