xvn ANATOMY OF THE AYE-AYE 549 



attention may be called to the long and bushy tail, to the greater 

 length of the hind-limbs, to the abdominal teats (one pair) in the 

 female, and above all to the singular third digit of the hand, 

 which is thin and elongated. The thumb is, as in other Lemurs, 

 opposable, and has a flat nail ; the remaining digits have claws, 

 as have also the toes with the exception of the great toe, which 

 has a flat nail like the thumb. 



The anatomy of this animal has occupied the attention of a 

 considerable number of observers, dating from Sir E. Owen, who 

 was the first to give a connected account of its entire organisa- 

 tion. The most recent paper of importance is by Dr. Oudemans. 1 

 The teeth are very unlike those of other Lemurs. The most 

 remarkable divergence is in the incisors, which are present to 

 the number of but a single pair in each jaw, and are shaped 

 like those of the Eodentia, and in the same way as in that 

 group grow from persistent pulps. There are likewise, as in 

 the Eodents, no 'canines. There are two premolars in the 

 upper jaw (none in the lower) and altogether twelve molars, so 

 that there is a total of eighteen teeth. The intestine has a 

 moderately long caecum. The brain has been most fully described 

 by Oudemans, who had fresh material to work with, the brain 

 described by Owen having been extracted from a spirit-preserved 

 carcase. The angular fissure is well developed, as in Lemur and 

 the Indri ; but it does not join the infero-frontal. The antero- 

 temporal fissure is also well developed. 



" The name of Aye-aye," wrote Sonnerat, the discoverer of the 

 animal, " which I have retained for it, is a cry of surprise of the 

 inhabitants of Madagascar." It is, however, usually said that 

 the animal itself makes a sound which may be written in the 

 same way (or with an initial H). It is an arboreal and 

 nocturnal animal, which accounts for its excessive rarity at one 

 time. In one of his many eloquent essays upon natural history 

 the late Mr. P. H. Gosse adduced the Aye-aye as an example of 

 a creature on the verge of extinction. It is, however, now more 

 frequently met with, though the superstition of the natives 

 renders its capture a matter of some difficulty. There is a 

 specimen at the moment of writing in the Zoological Society's 

 Gardens. There has been some discussion as to the use of the 

 slender middle finger : it is stated that it can thrust it into the 

 1 Verh, Ak. Amsterdam, xxvii. 1890. 



