_Microcebus pusillus_, G. R. Waterh., Cat. Mamm. Mus. Zool. Soc., 2nd
ed., p. 12 (1838).
_Cheirogaleus smithii_, J. E. Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1842, p. 257.
_Chirogaleus pusillus_, Flower and Lydekker, Introd. Mamm., p. 690 (1891,
pt.)
{58}_Microcebus smithii_, Mivart, P. Z. S., 1864, p. 641; Forsyth Major,
Nov. Zool., vol. 1., p. 12; Taf. ii., figs. 3, 4, 12, and 13 (1894) (with
full synonymy).
(_Plate VI._)
CHARACTERS.--Closely related to the foregoing; the fur in most specimens
less woolly than in the other species; eyes large; snout longer and more
pointed; ears shorter, less than half the length of the head; ankles
proportionally shorter; fingers and toes longer; fur generally darker, the
tail not markedly different from the back, very Rat-like in form; the dark
marks in front of the eye extending to the tip of the nose, inside of the
ears more ferruginous; size about that of a Rat. Muzzle longer and more
pointed than in _M. myoxinus_; pre-maxillæ more produced in front, and
nasals more produced above the nostrils; bony palate less prolonged
backwards beyond the posterior molar, the hind perforations of the latter
large; the line of union of the two halves of the lower jaw shorter than in
_M. myoxinus_; upper incisors set anterior to the canines, and distant from
the inner margin of the pre-maxillæ, the inner pair larger than the outer
pair; the anterior upper pre-molar less vertically extended than the median
one; median and posterior lower molars having the hind outer cusp lower and
longer than the front outer cusp.
DISTRIBUTION.--Smith's Dwarf-Lemur is known from Fort Dauphin, on the
south-east coast, from Betsileo in the centre, and from the south coast of
Madagascar.