138 MAMMALIA. 



that of the preceding; tail three-fourths as long as the body. 

 It lives in troops in the prairies of North America. 



There is one found in the Indian Archipelago, that is nearly 

 the size of a Cat ; the male of a fine lively maronne above, and 

 red underneath ; the female brown above and whitish under- 

 neath. It is the 



Sc. petaurista, L.; Buff. Supp. Ill, xxi, and VII, Ixvii. (The 

 Taguan.) The same place produces another small one, the 



Sc. sagitta, L. A deep brown above ; white beneath ; distin- 

 guished from other species, the small ones especially, by its 

 membrane, which, as in the Taguan, forms an extremely acute 

 projecting angle behind the tarsus.(l) 

 M. GeoflTroy has very properly separated from this genus the 



Cheiromys, Cuv. (2) 



Or the Aye-Ayes, v/hose inferior incisors, much more compressed, 

 and above all, more extended from front to back, resemble plough- 

 shares. Each foot has five toes, of which four of the anterior arc 

 excessively elongated, the medius being more slender than the 

 others ; in the hind feet the thumb is opposable to the other toes j 

 so that they are in this respect among the Rodentia, what the Opos- 

 sums are among the Carnaria. The structure of their head is 

 otherwise very different from that of the other Rodentia, and is re- 

 lated to the Quadrumana in more points than one. 



There is only one species of the Aye-Aye known. It was dis- 

 covered at Madagascar by Sonnerat. It is the Cheir. Madagas- 

 cariensis ; Sc. Madagascar.^ Gm. ; Buff. Supp. VII, Ixviii. (The 

 Aye-Aye.) Size of a Hare, of a brown colour, mixed with yel- 

 low ; tail long and thick, with stout black bristles; ears large 

 and naked. It is a nocturnal animal, to which motion seems 

 painful ; it burrows under ground, and uses its slender toe to 

 convey food to its mouth. 

 Linnaeus and Pallas united in one single group, under the name of 



Mus, Lin., 



All the Rodentia furnished with clavicles, which they could not dis- 

 tinguish by some very sensible external character, such as the tail 

 of the Squirrel or that of the Beaver, from which resulted the utter 

 impossibility of assigning to them any common character ; the 

 greater number had merely pointed lower incisors, but even this was 

 subject to exceptions. 



(1) AddP^ hudsonius, Gm. Am. Ed. 



(2) Cheiromys, arat with hands. 



