The Lemurs are animals having very much the appearance and habits of monkeys, but with long snouts or muzzles, resembling that of the fox. Hence they are sometimes called fox-apes. There are many kinds of them, however; and, although classed in a group called lemurs, they differ exceedingly from one another, some of them having the appearance of foxes, others more resembling squirrels, and still others like flying squirrels—being possessed of a similar wing-like appendage, and capable, like them, of extended flight. They are known under different appellations, as Makis, Indris, Loris, Galagos, Tarsiers, Ay-ays, etcetera, and naturalists have subdivided them into a great number of genera. They are found both in Africa and Asia; but by far the greater number of them, as the Makis and Ay-ays, belong to the Island of Madagascar. The last are not to be confounded with an animal bearing the same name—the ay-ay of America. The latter is the singular creature known as the sloth, of which there are several distinct species, all inhabitants of the great forests of tropical America.
Of the lemurs, at least thirty different kinds are known, more than half of which belong to the Island of Madagascar. A few species are found on the west coast of Africa: and the others inhabit the Oriental islands—Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, Timor, Mindanao, and the Philippine Archipelago.
Chapter Two.
Monkeys of the New World.
The Monkeys of America differ in many respects from those of the Old World. In general they are smaller—none of the species being quite so large as the baboons. Their bodies and limbs are also more slender and spider-like; and their whole conformation seems intended to adapt them for dwelling in the great virgin forests of the New World. There is one particular in which they differ most remarkably from their congeners of the Old World; that is, in having prehensile tails. With these they are enabled to suspend themselves from the branches of trees, or swing their bodies from one to the other; and this prehensile power is far greater than could be obtained by any clutch of the hand. So great is it, that even after the animal has died from the effect of a shot or other wound, its tail will still remain hooped around the branch; and if the body is not taken down by the hunter, it will hang there till released by the decay of the tail!
Not all the monkeys of America possess this prehensile power of tail. Some are entirely without it, and approach nearer to certain kinds in the Old World; while there are a few species that very closely resemble the lemurs. These differences have led to a classification of the American monkeys; and they have been
thrown into three groups, though it may be remarked that these groups are not very natural.