It inhabits the north-west of Madagascar, and the Sakalaves call it Acoumba. M. Pollen noticed one of the white-whiskered yellowish-red coloured females with a little black young one (a male) on its shoulders, and when the mother was shot, it fell with her, so tightly had it grasped her wool. They live in companies, and like the very tops of the tallest trees of the forest for their home; they are usually seen in the evening, when they make a great deal of noise with their concert of grunts and cries, and they jump from bough to bough quite as quickly as a bird flies. They have a trick of falling down suddenly, when pursued, into the underwood, and when the hunter searches for them they will be seen rushing off to a distant tree. When reared in captivity they are docile and affectionate. They like to sit on their keeper’s shoulder, and will eat nearly everything that is offered to them. Fruit they prefer, but they will crack a bird’s skull and eat the brain. In some districts of Madagascar these Lemurs are not allowed to be killed or to be kept either dead or alive, on account of some superstitious ideas of the natives.
One of the most remarkable peculiarities of this Lemur is the marked padded nature of the hand. The palm of the hand is longer than the fingers, and the thumb is not much bigger than the little or fifth finger. The fourth finger is slightly the longest, and its tip, as well as those of the other fingers, is furnished with a well-marked pad, which gives a roundness and fulness to the last joint, or phalanx. The fleshy pads of the palm and fingers are also numerous, and the largest occupies the position on the palm of the ball of the thumb in man, whilst in front of this there is a pad space on the palm close below the first joint of the index finger. A smaller pad is placed behind the roots of the third and fourth fingers, and there is a pad at the root of the fifth digit. Two long pads are seen behind this last on the outer margin of the palm, which converge towards the great pad of the base of the thumb. These six pads of the palm form an ellipsis around the centre of the hand, and are of paramount importance in preventing the jar of jumping.
HEAD OF THE BLACK LEMUR. (After Murie.)
The under part of the foot of the Black Lemur is at first sight very much like a hard palm, with a great thumb, for the great toe is large and thumb-like. The four other toes are finger-like, and are very slightly larger than the fingers of the hand; and the sole, although narrow and rather elongate, resembles a palm somewhat. The second toe is small; and although it has a small pad beneath its tip, a distinct and sharp nail projects from the last phalanx. All the other toes have large pads beneath their tips, and assume more or less of a rounded shape at the ends. The great toe’s pad is large and almost circular in outline. There is a large pad at the base of the great toe, which is almost divided into two by a furrow, and each of the remaining toes has a small pad at its junction with the sole, and there is one along the outer border. All these tactile pads with cushions of fat on the palm and sole act admirably as buffers, and prevent injury to the joints of the bones, as the Lemur terminates its leap by bringing its extremities in sudden contact with boughs or small trees. Moreover, they enable the animal to distinguish substances by their very sensitive surface. By being placed at the base of the fingers and toes on the palm or sole, and by being separate and along the edge of elliptical spaces, the movement of the fingers and toes still retains their independence. Moreover, the existence of a central spot between the pads favours the movements of the palm and sole, and assists in the opposable nature of the thumb and first toe. The pads on the under part of the ends of the fingers and toes appear not only to act as cushions, but to enable the Lemur to distinguish the nature of the substances with which they come in contact. They are therefore sensitive, and may be termed extraordinary organs of touch. A circlet of very long hairs projects and radiates round the ears of this Lemur, and gives the animal a very peculiar appearance.
GENUS CHEIROGALE.[125]
There are many very small bushy-tailed and almost Rat or Squirrel-like Lemuroida in Madagascar, which have a most curious habit. In England Hedgehogs, Dormice, and Bats—and in other countries the Marmot and other animals—hide up on the approach of winter, and go off to sleep for many a long day until warm weather returns, and food can be obtained; and this is done also by many reptiles, and not a few insects. They take their winter’s sleep like the Water-rat—
“And when cold winter comes, and the water-plants die,
And his little brooks yield him no further supply,