These sketches of the forest would be very incomplete without saying something about what are the most characteristic animals of Madagascar—viz. the lemurs; for though there are a few allied forms found in Africa on the one side, and in Southern Asia on the other, this island is _the_ home of Lemuroid animals. It was indeed proposed to call a supposed former continent in the Indian Ocean by the name of “Lemuria.” It must be said, however, that there are few of them to be seen in the neighbourhood of the sanatorium, although the cries of some may be heard, a strange long-drawn-out wailing sound, as if of people in distress, or children crying. Yet it was always a pleasant sound to me, as a sign of life, and probably of enjoyment, in these active and harmless denizens of the woods. There are no fewer than thirty-nine different species of these animals living in Madagascar, of which twenty-nine are the true lemurs, while the other ten are closely allied to them and are lemur-like (Lemuroida). The eastern and north-eastern forests contain about a third of the larger number; and M. Grandidier has pointed out that while some species have a wide range, others have a very distinctly defined habitat, which is frequently limited by two rivers, one to the north and the other to the south of their district. Three species of the Propitheques (Lemuroida) are known by the Malagasy under the common name of _Sìmpona_. They live in companies of from six to eight, and are diurnal animals; one may see them morning and evening, when the heat is not too great, leaping in the woods from tree to tree in search of food. Often they may be surprised at sunrise, says M. Grandidier, squatting on the fork of a tree, their long legs bent under them, touching the chin, their hands resting on their knees, stretching out their arms and legs so as not to lose a single ray of the newly risen sun. The food of these animals is entirely vegetable; and they are formed for purely arboreal life, for there is a membrane along the arms and legs which acts, to a certain extent, as a parachute, so that they make leaps of from twenty-five to thirty feet without apparent effort, and they seem to fly through the air. On the rare occasions when they leave the woods they advance by leaps, as if their feet were tied together, and have a most comical appearance as they go across a bit of open ground. One of these sìmpona is silvery-grey in colour, with black head and neck; another is entirely white, except for its dark brown face; and a third species is black or dark brown in colour. Of the true lemurs, I had the good fortune once to see a pair of the kind called red lemur (_Lemur varius_, var. _ruber_) cross a path near the house; these were large and handsome animals, warm reddish-brown in colour, and took astonishing leaps in a most graceful manner; but they were out of sight in an instant, and I can easily believe what is said by collectors, that it is easier to shoot a flying bird than