LEMUR

(Lat. lemur, a ghost.) This term was applied in the Linnseaa system to several of the lower Uuadrumnuniis animals of different structure and habits; it is now restricted to those which have the inferior incisors long, compre ed, straight, and sloping forwards, and the lower canines approximated, and of similar form and direction, differing only in a slight increase of size, whence they have usually been enumerated as ir.cisors: the ii|i|x;r incisors are straight, and the intermediate ones are separated from each other. The long, pointed canines of the ii|>|xr jaw are principally opposed to the treivhant anterior false molars below. Bach of the four extremities is provided with an opposable thumb; but the index digit id' the hinder hand has its nail developed into a long, curved, •harp-pointed claw. The use of this claw is to clean or dislodge vermin from the long and thick woolly hair. The lemurs deviate from the typical Quadi umanes, and approximate to the ordinary quadruped in their elongated. |>ointed head, and sharp, projecting muzzle; the posterior limbs are a little longer than the anterior; the tail M long, thick, and bushy. They are all natives of Madagascarnnd of some of the smaller islands m its neighbourhood. To judge from the nature of their covering, it might be tlipnwd that the lemurs were natives of a rold climate but their fur has relation to the season of their activity. They sleep by day, and move about in the night season, during which time the air is often sufficiently cold in the tropical latitude*. Their nutriment is a mixed diet of fruits, insects, and small birds; the latter they surprise while at LE' [s. 671]