4 DAUBENTONIA 



which I was gradually lining with tin I bethought myself of tying some 

 sticks over the woodwork, so that he might gnaw these instead. I had 

 previously put in some large branches for him to climb upon ; but the 

 others were straight sticks to cover over the woodwork of his cage, 

 which he alone attacked. It so happened that the thick sticks I now 

 put into his cage were bored in all directions by a large and destructive 

 grub, called here the Montouk. Just at sunset the Aye-Aye crept from 

 under his blanket, yawned, stretched, and betook himself to his tree, 

 where his movements are lively and graceful, though by no means so 

 quick as those of a Squirrel. Presently he came to one of the worm- 

 eaten branches, which he began to examine most attentively ; and bend- 

 ing forward his ears, and applying his nose close to the bark, he 

 rapidly tapped the surface with the curious second digit, as a Wdod- 

 pecker taps a tree, though with much less noise, from time to time 

 inserting the end of the slender finger into the worm-holes as a sur- 

 geon would a probe. At length he came to a part of the branch which 

 evidently gave out an interesting sound, for he began to tear it with his 

 strong teeth. He rapidly stripped off the bark, cut into the wood, and 

 exposed the nest of a grub, which he daintily picked out of its bed with 

 the slender tapping finger, and conveyed the luscious morsel to his 

 mouth. I watched these proceedings with much interest, and was 

 much struck with the marvellous adaptation of the creature to its habits, 

 shown by his acute hearing, which enables him aptly to distinguish the 

 different tones emitted from the wood by his gentle tapping; his 

 evidently acute sense of smell, aiding him in his search; his secure 

 footsteps on the slender branches, to which he firmly clung by his 

 quadrumanous members ; his strong rodent teeth enabling him to tear 

 through the wood ; and lastly by the curious slender finger, unlike that 

 of any other animal, and which he used alternately as a pleximeter, a 

 probe, and a scoop. 



"But I was yet to learn another peculiarity. I gave him water to 

 drink in a saucer, on which he stretched out a hand, dipped a finger into 

 it, and drew it obliquely through his open mouth ; and this he repeated 

 so rapidly, that the water seemed to flow into his mouth. After a while 

 he lapped like a cat, but his first method of drinking appeared to me 

 to be his way of reaching water in the deep clefts of trees. 



"I am told that the Aye-Aye is an object of veneration in Madagas- 

 car, and that if any native touches one, he is sure to die within the 

 year; hence the difficulty of obtaining a specimen." 



The Aye-Aye lives in the trees and is strictly nocturnal, becoming 

 active on the disappearance of the sun. One young is said to be pro- 



