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Show 1866.] MR. ST. GEORGE MIVART ON MICRORHYNCHUS. 153 part of the thighs and around the anus whitish ; the tail and the paws are of a reddish brown. The hairs of the back are grey at the base, then reddish, rather darker in the nape of the neck. The ears are round, short, and covered with hair. The length of the head and trunk measures 0*3 ; the tail to its end, without the hair, 0'25 ; the posterior limbs, to the heel, measure 0-21 ; the anterior limbs to the end of the fourth finger measure 0*16. The fourth finger is longest, both in the anterior and posterior extremities. " The barbarous name Avahi will probably meet with little acceptance. On that account we believe that we ought to accept the name Habrocebus, proposed by Wagner, and which alludes to the soft and woolly hair. At the same time it is uncertain whether it is more than a subdivision of the genus Lichanotus, and it is also uncertain whether Propithecus diadema should be placed in the same genus with it." So far Prof. Van der Hoeven. Dr. Ch. Coquerel* informs us that the Indri is called by the natives Batakoton, the former name merely signifying behold ! or, to use Dr. Coquerel's words, "tiensl voicil regardel le voilal" With regard to Microrhynchus he says that (unlike the Indri, which appears confined to the mainland of Madagascar) it is found in the great forest of Tsasifoutt, in the Island of St. Mary, and that it is known to the natives by the name Ampongui. He adds that it is more decidedly nocturnal than the true Lemurs, and that in comparison with them it is a stupid animal. A fine skin of an adult individual (containing a nearly perfect skull and most of the bones of the limbs) was obtained in Madagascar by Mr. Gerrardf, and has been kindly placed in m y hands for description by Dr. Sclater. This skin answers to the description, above quoted, of Prof. Van der Hoeven ; but it has (what he does not mention or represent in his figure) a very distinct transverse whitish band across the forehead, which is the more marked because the hair immediately in front of and behind this band is darker than on the rest of the body. The general coloration is brighter and darker than in the young skin in the British Museum, and the transverse light frontal streak, with its dark margins, better defined. The hands and feet are of a rusty brown, and the tail rufous ; but the fur of these parts is dark grey at the base, as indeed it is all over the body, except at the white patches on the backs of the thighs, where most of the hairs are light-coloured for their whole length. The face is almost entirely covered with short hairs of nearly the same tint as the fur of the arms. The ears are short and rounded, nor do they appear to be at all tufted. The fourth digit is the longest in both the anterior and the posterior extremities. In form M. laniger is remarkable for its very long hinder limbs, which it shares with the other Indrisinar, and for its long tail, in which it agrees with Propithecus. Perhaps, however, its most pecu- * See Revue et Magasin de Zoologie, 2e serie, xi. 1859, p. 461. t See P. Z. S. 1865, p. 833. |
