GALAGO MOHOLI.
specimens we possessed (nine) had four incisors in the upper jaw, while all the descriptions I had an
opportunity of consulting gave to the Senegal species only two. Should G. Moholi eventually
prove distinct from the latter, there is reason to believe that it occurs in Western as well as
Southern Africa, at least there is a specimen from the Gambia, in the museum of the Zoologica
Society o f London, which, as far as size and external appearances are concerned, so closely
resembles ours, that it is difficult to distinguish the one from the other: the upper jaw
of the specimen in question, unfortunately, is slightly damaged, and only one incisor
remains. But admitting that the Zoological Society’s specimen and ours are of one species,
that species, in my opinion, is not the true Galago S e n e g a le n s is a conclusion to which I
have been led by the recent observations of my friend Mr. Waterhouse, while in Paris. He
found in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes, two specimens ticketed Galago Senegalensis;
the one is certainly of the same species as that in the Zoological Society’s Museum, and
measures to the base of the tail eight inches and a half; the other differs from it not only in
size, but also in colouring. According to Mr. Waterhouse’s notes the latter is seven inches long;
the upper parts are greyish-yellow; the sides yellow with a brownish tinge, and the under parts
yellow; the hands are a dirty yellow- white; a line between the eyes and the muzzle yellowish;
the tail is pale rusty yellow, the fur of the belly, both at base and apex is of the same colour;
the ears are apparently larger than those of the other specimen, and the fingersionger.” Now,
as only one specimen appears to have existed in the museum at the time the G. Senegalensis was
described by Daubenton, and as his description nearly corresponds with that of the second
individual examined by Mr. Waterhouse,— and whose colouring is given from his notes__
I think we can have no hesitation in agreeing with him, that the above is the animal which
Daubenton intends to describe when he says—“ length seven inches; the hairs tolerably long-
and woolly; the lips and top of the nose is yellow-white; this colour extends between the
eyes and the forehead. The back is yellowish-brown; this colour becomes paler on the flanks,
the arms, and the thighs, and is yellow-white on the fore-arms, the legs, the belly, and the
chest.” If so, the second specimen mentioned in the Paris collection, is the true Galago Senega-,
lensis; and oura, as well as the specimen in the Zoological Society's Museum, and the other
which is in the Jardin des Plantes, is distinct; and consequently Galago Moholi, and is
readily to be distinguished from G. Senegalensis, by having the fur of the belly of two
colours—white towards the surface, and a dark slate colour towards the base.
The first specimens we observed were upon trees close to the Limpopo river, in about latitude
25° south, and from that parallel we continued to observe others as far as we travelled.
During their movements, they evince great activity; they spring from branch to branch, and
even from tree to tree, with extraordinary facility, and always seize with one of their fore feet the
branch upon which they intend to rest. In their manners they manifest considerable resemblance
to monkeys, particularly in their propensity to the practice of ridiculous-grimaces, gesticulations;
&c. According to the Natives, G. Moholi is a nocturnal animal, and is rarely to be seen during
the day. The latter it spends in the nests which it forms for itself in the forks of branches,
or in the cavities o f decayed trees; and in these nests the females also produce and rear their
young, which are generally two at a birth. Its food consists principally of pulpy fruits, though
there is reason to believe it also consumes insects, as the remains o f the latter were discovered
in the stomachs of several individuals we examined.