Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/345

 LEMUR LENA 339 captivity ; a single young one is produced at a birth, which the mother carries about for a long time, concealed in her long hair or coiled round her body, tending it with great care. The largest species is the indri (lichanotus brevicaudatus, Illig.), about the size of a large Ring-tailed Lemur (Lemur catta). cat, the tail being a mere rudiment ; the dental formula is: incisors fif, canines ~, molars fcf=30; the color is black, with white throat, buttocks, and heels; they are tamed by the natives of Madagascar, and being very agile are trained like dogs for the chase. The genus % lemur (Linn.) has incisors, canines :{, and molars f if =36; the eyes are lateral ; the tail long and hairy throughout. The ring-tailed lemur (L. catta, Linn.) is one of the most elegant species, of a delicate gray color, ruddy on the back, white below and on the cheeks, and the tail ringed with black and white ; it is about 19 in. long, of which the tail is V; it is a gentle and confiding animal, and received its specific name from its occasionally making a sound like the purring of a cat; a common name is mococo. The vari (Z. macaco, Linn.) is varied by large white and black spots. The red lemur (L. ruber, Peron) is of a reddish chestnut color, with head, fore hands, tail, and belly black, and a white spot on the nape, be- ing one of the few animals in which the lower parts are darker colored than the upper ; it is easily tamed, gentle, agile, but sleepy during the day ; the body is about 13 in. and the tail about 1| ft. long. The name of mongous is popularly applied to all lemurs of an olive- brown color; the term maki is also synony- mous with lemur, most of the species living in Madagascar. The genus stenops (Illig.), com- prising the slow lemurs, will be noticed under LORI, the common name. The African lemurs or galagos (otolicnus, Illig.) have the nails and teeth of the preceding genus, but the tarsi are elongated, the ears large and naked, the eyes large, and the tail long and tufted; they are insectivorous and frugivorous, nocturnal, and as agile as monkeys or squirrels, making great jumps; when sleeping they are said to close the ears like bats; the flesh is eaten by the natives of Senegal. The 0. galago (Wagn.) is about 7 in. long, and the tail about 9 ; it is of a grayish color, pale yellow on the legs, and the tail brown. The dwarf lemur (0. [micro- cebus pusillus, Geoffr.), with more hairy ears; facial whiskers, and broader upper incisors, sometimes called the Madagascar rat, is 10 or 11 in. long and 6 in. high; the color is grayish fawn above and white below. In the genus tarsius (Storr) there are only two lower in- cisors, and the molars have several acute tu- bercles like the insectivora ; the eyes are very large, the ears ample and somewhat naked, the tarsus much elongated, and the tail much longer than the body and tufted at the tip. The spectral lemur (T. spectrum, Geoffr.) is of a grayish brown color, living in the forests of the Indian archipelago, its long tarsi enabling Spectral Lemur (Tarsius spectrum). it to leap like a frog ; the size is small. The lemurs are very interesting as supplying transi- tion forms between monkeys, bats, insectivora, and rodents. LEMURES, or Larvae, in Roman mythology, malignant spirits who were thought to haunt the earth by night and to possess great power for evil over the living. They were the spirits of bad men, and were held in much dread, while the lares or souls of the virtuous were supposed to exercise over mankind a kindly in- fluence. According to some writers, however, the term lemures applied to all spectres of the dead, both lares and larvae. To propitiate the latter, the Romans annually celebrated a fes- tival in the month of May, called the lemuria or lemuralia. LENA, a river of eastern Siberia, rising W. of Lake Baikal, near Irkutsk. Its direction is at first K and then E. N. E. until it reaches Yakutsk, near lat. 62 K, Ion. 130 E., where it resumes a northerly course, and preserves it until it discharges its waters through numer- ous mouths into the Arctic ocean. Its length is about 2,500 m., and it flows wholly within the Russian dominions. The Vitim, Aldan, and Viliui are its most important tributaries. It discharges a vast volume of water, and at