The dentition of the Galagos presents several important characters. In respect to their upper teeth, the incisors are small, equal, and have a hind cusp on the cingulum. A distinct gap exists between the canine and the pre-molar teeth. Of the pre-molars, the anterior one is canine-like, and is equally distant from the canine and its own next neighbour. To the outside it has one main cusp, and generally one minute supplementary cusp on each side. The median pre-molar shows three cusps, and one strong inner front cusp. The posterior pre-molar is always molar-like. It has one front supplementary and two main cusps to the outside; and one front and one supplementary hind cusp to the inside: it has also on the crown the oblique ridge spoken of above.
The molars have a deep concavity on their hind border, due to the development of the cingulum on the inner half only of that border of the tooth; to the outside they present two main cusps (and often supplementary minute fore and hind cusps); while to the inside they present two cusps, and also an intermediate cusp in front between the two fore cusps; the oblique ridge is also here present; the hindmost molar is three-cusped. The five hind molars are, therefore, nearly equal in size. In the lower jaw the pre-molars are complicated. The anterior and median are canine-like and procumbent, with a cusped heel behind; the posterior is distinguished from a molar only by the lesser size of its fore-part. The molars are also complicated; the anterior and median are equal in size and four-cusped—the two front cusps (united by a ridge) are taller than the two hind ones, and there is a minute cusp between the two hind cusps. The posterior molar, though smaller than the others, is five-cusped. The oblique ridge is not present in the lower molars.
The brain of the Galagos is narrower and shallower than that in the Lemurinæ.
The female gives birth to two or three young at a time.
According to Dr. Forsyth Major, who has made the Lemuroidea a special study, the smaller African Galagos have departed less from the primitive Lemuroid type than the Madagascar genera, in which greater specialisation has taken place.
The members of the genus Galago are widely distributed on the African continent, but are unknown in Madagascar. They range throughout the dense forest regions, from Abyssinia in the north-east, to Senegambia in the west, and southward as far as Natal and Mozambique.
Almost all the Galagos are nocturnal. They are chiefly arboreal, and when they descend to the ground they advance by hops on their long hind-limbs. They feed chiefly on fruits, insects, birds, and birds' eggs.
I. GARNETT'S GALAGO. GALAGO GARNETTI.
Otolicnus garnettii, Ogilby, P. Z. S., 1838, p. 6.
Otolemur agisymbianus, Coquerel, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1859, p. 457.