The Geographical Distribution of Animals, Volume 2 / With a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the Earth's surface

by Alfred Russel Wallace

The Lemuridæ, comprehending all the animals usually termed Lemurs and many of their allies, are divided by Professor Mivart—who has carefully studied the group—into four sub-families and eleven genera, as follows:—

Sub-family Indrisinæ, consisting of the genus Indris (5 sp.), is confined to Madagascar.

Sub-family Lemurinæ, contains five genera, viz.:—Lemur, (15 sp.); Hapalemur (2 sp.); Microcebus (4 sp.); Chirogaleus (5 sp.); and Lepilemur (2 sp.);—all confined to Madagascar.

Sub-family Nycticebinæ, contains four genera, viz.:—Nycticebus (3 sp.)—small, short-tailed, nocturnal animals, called slow-lemurs,—range from East Bengal to South China, and to Borneo and Java; Loris (1 sp.)—a very small, tail-less, nocturnal lemur, which inhabits Madras, Malabar, and Ceylon; Perodicticus (1 sp.)—the potto—a small lemur with almost rudimentary forefinger, found at Sierra Leone (Plate V., vol. i., p. 264); Arctocebus (1 sp.)—the angwantibo,—another extraordinary form in which the forefinger is quite absent and the first toe armed with a long claw,—inhabits Old Calabar.

Sub-family Galaginæ, contains only the genus Galago (14 sp.), which is confined to the African continent, ranging from Senegal and Fernando Po to Zanzibar and Natal.

Family 7.—TARSIIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

General Distribution.
Neotropical Sub-regions.	Nearctic Sub-regions.	Palæarctic Sub-regions.	Ethiopian Sub-regions.	Oriental Sub-regions.	Australian Sub-regions.
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The curious Tarsius spectrum, which constitutes this family, inhabits Sumatra, Banca, and Borneo, and is also found in some parts of Celebes, which would bring it into the Australian region; but this island is altogether so anomalous that we can only consider its productions to have somewhat more affinity with the Australian than the Oriental region, but hardly to belong to either. The Tarsier is a small, long-tailed, nocturnal animal, of curious structure and appearance; and it forms the only link of connection with the next family, which it resembles in the extraordinary development of the toes, one of which is much larger and more slender than the rest. (Plate VIII., vol. i. p. 337.)

Family 8.—CHIROMYIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)

General Distribution.
Neotropical Sub-regions.	Nearctic Sub-regions.	Palæarctic Sub-regions.	Ethiopian Sub-regions.	Oriental Sub-regions.	Australian Sub-regions.
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