[Illustration: THE WOOLLY AVAHI.]
{95}Cranium more vaulted and the muzzle remarkably shorter than in the
genera _Indris_ and _Propithecus_; eye-sockets very large; the space
between the eyes hollow. Temporal ridges not uniting into a single median
ridge. Nasal bones projecting as far as the front end of the very small
pre-maxillary bone. Lower jaw remarkably deep and broad behind; line of
union of its two halves nearly half the length of the jaw, and in a
straight line with the incisor teeth. Toothless space in front of upper jaw
greater than in the other two genera. Dentition of the upper jaw:
_incisors_ small, the outer larger than the inner, set close to the canines
and not at the inner edge of the toothless space; _canines_ vertically
short; _pre-molars_, with no inner cusp, but having a prominent outer
cingulum (a character seen in no other species of Lemur); _molars_,
four-cusped. Lower jaw: _incisors_ larger than in the two other genera, and
less horizontal, the inner ones more slender than the outer. Anterior and
posterior _molars_, five-cusped. Hind margin of palate reaching to the
middle of the median molar. Central bone of wrist wanting (of all Primates
agreeing in this character only with Man, the Chimpanzees, the Gentle- and
Sportive-Lemurs and the Endrina); fourth digit of the hands and feet
longest. Tail long. The small intestine not spirally coiled upon itself,
but folded many times transversely.
Hair long, woolly, dark Mouse-grey at base, reddish-brown in the middle,
black at the tips. Face broad, entirely covered with short greyish-brown
hairs; nose-pad alone nude. Ears concealed and covered by rufous hair;
pupil of eye very contractile, very narrow and linear during the day;
across the forehead and over the eyes a transverse lunulate whitish band,
margined anteriorly by a black band. Back greyish-brown, the nape darker; a
patch over the rump, and the base of the tail and buttocks white, washed
with rufous; back and inner side of thighs and round the arms whitish; a
narrow fringe on the lower margin of arms and legs ashy-grey, washed with
rufous; fore-arm, hands and feet rusty-brown; tail bright dark red, deepest
at its extremity. Under side and inner surface of limbs grey, washed with
rufous. Length of body, 12½ inches; tail, 15¾ inches.
{96}Of this species there are two forms, an _eastern_ and a _northern_, the
latter being always smaller in size, with the fur lighter and less rusty.
In some varieties the upper surface is dark rusty-red all over, and the
inner sides of the limbs pure white. Examples from the north-west coast are
constantly smaller; the head rounder, and the facial hairs grey; no white
band on the forehead; upper surface bright yellowish-brown; tail
rusty-grey; under side of hind-limbs pure white, the under surface and
inner side of the arms whitish. The variation in coloration is due to the
middle part of the hairs, which in typical specimens is rusty-red, but is
yellow in the above-mentioned form. Hands and feet grey.
YOUNG.--Ashy-grey, slightly washed with red.
DISTRIBUTION.--The Woolly Avahi seems to inhabit only the forests of the
parallel ranges of the mountains which face the whole eastern coast of
Madagascar; it extends round the bay of Passandava on the west coast,
opposite to the northern termination of this eastern range of mountains.
HABITS.--This species--the smallest of the _Indrisinæ_--being essentially
nocturnal, is torpid during the day, and is the wildest and least docile of
the family. The first specimen of the "Avahi," the name by which this
animal is known among the Anatala tribe, was brought to Europe by Sonnerat,
the French traveller, in 1781, and nearly half a century elapsed before a
second one was obtained. Since then several specimens have been kept in
captivity in the different zoological gardens of Europe.