The hairs on the Potto are longish, soft, and woolly, mouse-coloured at the base, rusty in the middle, and paler tipped. Hence results a general chestnut tint, with intermixture of grey, the under surface being considerably paler. The limbs are nearly of one length; the head rounded, with slightly-hairy shortish ears, and moderately-projecting muzzle. The nose and chin are almost naked and flesh-coloured, the former grooved or nicked in the centre. The eyes are lateral and oblique, very convex, and with an oblong pupil. The index, or first finger, is very short, resembling a tubercle.
The nature and number of the teeth indicate a mixed diet, as there are four incisors above and below, and two canines in the upper and lower jaw. Then come three pre-molars and three lower grinders on each side in both jaws.
GENUS ARCTOCEBUS, OR BEAR MONKEY TRIBE.[138]
The next genus is very singular. The species has just the trace of a tail, and the index finger is reduced to a slight projection, or tubercle, on which there is no trace of a nail, and the fingers and toes about the lower joints are united by skin. The ear has two cross folds, and there are fifteen dorsal back-bones, and seven in the loin region.
THE ANGWÁNTIBO.[139]
Our knowledge of this curious African species, which comes from West Africa and Old Calabar, truly a “three-fingered Jack,” is due to the Rev. A. Robb, when missionary at Old Calabar. From his letter (December, 1859) accompanying the bottled specimen first transmitted to England, we gather the following history:—“The Calabar people call it Angwántibo—angwán means a farm, but we do not know the etymology of the second part of the word, and cannot say whether it arose from any habit peculiar to the animal. It lives in trees; but, being nocturnal, the people know exceedingly little about it. They cannot tell what it eats. A lad whom I asked said that he lived in the house, and it lived in the bush, how then could he know anything about it? My Krumen also recognised it as a countryman of theirs. They consider the one sent as a young one, and say that in their country it grows to the size of a common puss. Probably theirs is a different animal, but I cannot tell. They call it Dwăn, and say that it lays down the law to the other beasts, forbidding them to eat the young fruit when it begins to form on the trees. If the Monkey transgresses, the Dwăn seizes him, and holds him there till he dies—yea, the Monkey rots in his grasp. They say they are shot together thus. If the Monkey gets the shot, the Dwăn holds on; if the Dwăn gets the shot, they fall together. The Krumen say that the Dwăn eats fruit. This is all we know about it at present; and their (the Krumen’s) account seems somewhat fabulous.”
SLOW LORIS. (After Tickell and Alph. Milne-Edwards.)
Dr. Alexander Smith describes and compares the animal with the Potto. He mentions the following characters:—Above, yellowish-brown, the roots of the hairs, dark grey; below, paler, in some parts nearly white; hair, wool-like; length from muzzle to point of tail, 10½ inches, the tail being only a quarter of an inch long. The body is slender; the head oval and rounded, with a blunt but protuberant face; the eyes, full and large; ears, naked within, and with short hairs externally; nostrils, sinuous, and laterally placed; there is projecting fold beneath the tongue, as in other Lemuroids, and the neck is short. The limbs are slender, the hinder a trifle larger and stronger than the others; both feet and hands conform to those of the Potto, with, however, a still greater reduction of the index finger. He observes that the hands and feet are divided, as it were, into two opposing portions, which he likens to the grasp of such climbing-birds as the Parrots. This peculiarity, along with the multiple blood-vessel division of the extremities, he thinks indicative of long-enduring muscular action, stealthy step, and adaptation for gripping twigs of trees, rather than for the purpose of capturing a prey.