[Illustration: COQUEREL'S SIFAKA.]
{103}CHARACTERS.--Muzzle very broad and naked; nose-pad wide; inside of
ears naked. Face, top of head, sides of neck, and throat, deep
brownish-black; muzzle black; a band across the temples, and a streak down
the nose, white. Ears black inside, fringed externally with white; neck and
upper surface white, washed with rust-colour on the limbs and root of the
tail. Tail, hands, and feet, pure white. Under side rich orange-red, darker
across the chest; inside of limbs white, washed with rufous. Of the same
size as _P. verreauxi_.
Cranium larger in all its parts than in other species. Nasal bones
elongated beyond the incisor teeth; nose very flat, this being due to the
large air-cavity (called false nose) in the jaw-bone below, connected with
the nose. The length and breadth of the muzzle gives a peculiar expression
to the face of _P. coronatus_.
This species, like the preceding, is subject to considerable variation.
The whole head is sometimes grey, washed with rufous; the upper surface and
root of the tail white, flushed with rust-colour.
In examples living further in the interior than the habitat of the type
(Bay of Bembatoka), the back is more rufous, the neck has a large grey or
brown patch, and the chest is very dark brownish rust-colour. The abdomen
and the inner sides of the limbs are bright red.
DISTRIBUTION.--This species occurs on the north-west coast of Madagascar,
between the Bay of Mozamba to the north and the River Manjaray on the
south, ranging over the country to a considerable distance into the
interior. The lighter-coloured specimens come from the more northern range
of the species, while the more brightly-marked varieties have been obtained
{104}in the interior more to the south. It is curious, remarks M.
Grandidier, to find races and species of the same genus so exactly
restricted, that one has only to cross a river, not necessarily large, in
order to obtain on one bank certain species of _Propithecus_, whereas those
occurring on the opposite bank may be of a very distinct species or race.
To what influence in their surroundings can all these variations be
ascribed? One can understand that species inhabiting a wooded and humid
country, or living among granitic mountains (as _P. diadema_ does), would
differ in size and fur from other members of the same genus which live in
dry and arid plains (as in the case of _P. verreauxi_); but how can the
great variations that occur in members of the same species living a few
miles, and perhaps only a few metres, apart, be explained, when the
external conditions are almost the same?
HABITS.--The habits of the different species of Sifaka are very similar.
They live in companies of six or eight, and are very gentle and inoffensive
animals, wearing always a most melancholy expression, and, as a rule, being
morose, inactive, and more silent than other Lemurs. They rarely live long
in captivity. In their native state they are most alert in the morning and
evening, as during the heat of the day they conceal themselves amid the
foliage of the trees. When asleep or in repose, the head is dropped on the
chest and buried between the arms, the tail rolled up on itself and
disposed between the hind-legs. The Sifakas live exclusively on vegetable
substances--leaves, fruits and flowers--their diet not being varied, as in
the other groups, by small birds, eggs, or insects. Their life is almost
entirely arboreal, for which the muscles of their hands and feet, as well
as the parachute-like fold of skin between their arms and body, and their
peculiarly hook-like fingers, are most fitted. The young one is carried
about by its mother on her back, its hands grasping her arm-pits tightly.
The Sifakas are held in great veneration or fear by the natives of
Madagascar, and are never intentionally killed by them.