Characters.—Closely related to the foregoing; the fur in most specimens less woolly than in the other species; eyes large; snout longer and more pointed; ears shorter, less than half the length of the head; ankles proportionally shorter; fingers and toes longer; fur generally darker, the tail not markedly different from the back, very Rat-like in form; the dark marks in front of the eye extending to the tip of the nose, inside of the ears more ferruginous; size about that of a Rat. Muzzle longer and more pointed than in M. myoxinus; pre-maxillæ more produced in front, and nasals more produced above the nostrils; bony palate less prolonged backwards beyond the posterior molar, the hind perforations of the latter large; the line of union of the two halves of the lower jaw shorter than in M. myoxinus; upper incisors set anterior to the canines, and distant from the inner margin of the pre-maxillæ, the inner pair larger than the outer pair; the anterior upper pre-molar less vertically extended than the median one; median and posterior lower molars having the hind outer cusp lower and longer than the front outer cusp.
Distribution.—Smith's Dwarf-Lemur is known from Fort Dauphin, on the south-east coast, from Betsileo in the centre, and from the south coast of Madagascar.
PLATE VI.
SMITH'S DWARF-LEMUR.
Habits.—Of the habits of both this and of the preceding species little is known, for they have rarely, if ever, been seen alive by Europeans. According to the Rev. G. A. Shaw, the present species lives in the belt of forest-land stretching from the eastern forest into the heart of Betsileo, a few miles north of Fianarantsoa, where they are tolerably abundant, frequenting the tops of the highest trees. Among these it moves about on all fours (its very stout limbs having beautifully perfect hands), using its tail as a balance by twisting it round a branch. The tail is, however, not truly prehensile, the animal only employing it to steady itself, or to hold on slightly by. This species, whose food consists chiefly of fruit and insects, builds a nest in a fork amid the smallest branches near the top of some very high tree, the female bringing forth two and sometimes three young at a birth.
IV. THE FORK-MARKED DWARF-LEMUR. MICROCEBUS FURCIFER.
Lemur furcifer, Blainv., Ostéogr. Mamm., 1841, p. 35, pl. vii.
Cheirogaleus furcifer, Isid. Geoffr., C. R., xxxi., p. 876 (1850); Mivart, P. Z. S., 1867, pp. 960-975 (skull and tarsus figured).
Lepilemur furcifer, Gray, P. Z. S., 1863, p. 145.