_Microcebus murinus_, Martin, P. Z. S., 1835, pp. 125.
_Galago minor_, Gray, Ann. and Mag. N. H., x., p. 255 (1842).
_? Chirogalus gliroides_, Grandid., C. R., 14 Dec., 1868.
_Chirogaleus pusillus_, Flower and Lydekker, Mammalia, p. 690 (1891
partim).
_Microcebus minor_, Forsyth Major, Nov. Zool., vol. i., p. 8 (1894), Taf.
i., fig. 2; ii., figs. 5-7, 14, 15 (with full synonymy).
CHARACTERS.--Head rounded; muzzle short and pointed; eyes large and
brilliant; ears large and naked; tail longer than body. Length of body, 5
inches; of tail, 6 inches.
Upper side, either for the most part Mouse-grey, washed with light
rufous-brown, with the stripe down the back more or less distinct and
somewhat darker; or with the rufous-brown colour preponderating. In grey
specimens the upper side of the tail is washed with rufous, the under side
being somewhat lighter. Cheeks, throat, breast, belly, and inner side of
limbs almost pure white, here and there washed with grey. Between the eyes
a white stripe; over the eyes in grey specimens a rusty-brown spot. Base of
the hairs slate-grey; the tips silvery. (_Forsyth Major._) Skull variable;
the brain-case short and high, or long and depressed; the facial region
short; posterior {56}upper pre-molar less than the anterior molar. Length
of intestine, 20 inches; cæcum blunt, 1¾ inches long; main arteries of
fore- and hind-limbs not broken up into a _rete mirabile_ of small parallel
vessels.
DISTRIBUTION.--This beautiful little animal, sometimes called the "Rat" of
Madagascar, the smallest of all the Lemurs, is known from Ambulisatra on
the south-west coast of Madagascar, and from Fort Dauphin on the south-east
coast.