_Microcebus myoxinus_, Peters, Reis, Mossamb. Zool., i., Säugeth., pp.
14-20, Taf. iii. and iv. (1852); Forsyth Major, Nov. Zool., vol. i., p.
11 (1894).
CHARACTERS.--Head Cat-like and round; muzzle pointed and broader than in
_M. minor_. Ears large, one-third shorter than the head and short-haired;
eyes large and round. Fourth digit of hand longest; second and fifth
shortest. Tail longer than the body, its hair stronger and shorter than on
the body, but longer at the tip and on the upper side than it is beneath.
Two pairs of teats, one pair on the breast, and one pair on the abdomen.
Resembles _M. minor_, but is redder in colour. Back reddish-yellow, washed
with ferruginous, brighter on the forehead and under the eyes; a dark brown
spot on the upper and lower corners of the eyes; sides of body between the
limbs, hands and wrists, feet and ankles, as well as the external margins
of the limbs, and the whole under side, as well as a spot on the brow, a
line down the centre of the nose, and the sides of the head and cheeks,
pure white, washed with yellowish-brown. {57}Tail golden-yellow, washed
with ferruginous on the upper side, the entire distal third darker; rest of
the under side of the tail paler. Naked part of ears flesh-colour.
(_Peters._) Hairs slate-grey at base, the tips ferruginous.
Mastoid portion of ear-capsules (periotic-bones) not so inflated as in _M.
minor_; hind border of bony palate extending to the posterior border of the
last molar, its posterior foramina being large; pre-maxillary bones very
large and projecting beyond the incisor teeth; angle of lower jaw pointed
and hooked. Upper inner incisors standing in front of the canines, and
nearly twice the size of the outer; no gap between the canines and the
anterior pre-molar; the pre-molars vertically sub-equal, and with one
external cusp; molars with two external cusps, the hinder of the two united
to the large inner front cusp by an oblique ridge, their inner side bounded
by the cingulum; the posterior molar smaller than the two anterior.
Anterior and median lower molars four-cusped; the posterior, the largest of
the cheek-teeth, five-cusped.
DISTRIBUTION.--The Dormouse Dwarf-Lemur inhabits the south-west coast of
Madagascar; it has also been obtained at Bambotoka in St. Augustin's Bay on
the west coast.