LEMURS — MADAGASCAR FAUNA. 83 



contain. Its vicinity to Africa, and the fact that there is a comparatively shallow suhmarine nock of 

 land, which woidd on a small rise connect it with that continent (see Map 1), mark it prima facie as an 

 African dependencj', and its fauna and flora in many respects bear out the expectation ; but there is 

 still much that is difficidt of explanation on this assumption. If it were formerly connected with 

 Africa, why are so many of the special types of the neighbouring land wholly wanting? — Where 

 are its Antelopes and its Pachyderms ? It may have been that they were not yet in existence at the 

 period when the separation of Madagascar from Africa took place, or it may have been due to the 

 physical character of the land, and not a phenomenon involving any difierence in the fauna of the 

 noighboiu-ing continent, from what now exists there. I have already suggested that its separation 

 probably took place at the commencement of the miocene epoch. Imagine the fauna of South 

 Africa, with Madagascar united to it, to ha^■e been at that time of the same type as now (with the 

 possible exception of the Carnivora, as to which I shall speak in the next chapter). "SYe may, 

 without extravagance, assume the character of the fauna of Africa to have continued the same since 

 the miocene epoch ; for if the only other country (Australia) of which a considerable portion has 

 remained above water and without much change since that date, has preserved its Mammalian type 

 unchanged, there seems no reason why Africa, similarly circiunstanced, should not have done so likewise. 

 If that was the case when the subsidence came, it woidd obviously depend upon its extent and the 

 character of the portion of Madagascar not submerged, what animals would be present and what 

 could survive. If all but wooded peaks were xmder water it is plain that there could be none of 

 the Antelopes which feed on grassy plains : they would not bo there at all. All but those animals 

 adapted for a mountainous or forest country would be destroyed, and South Africa has few of that 

 class of animals. The Mammalian Fauna of Madagascar is singularly limited ; b\it such as it is, it 

 is all related to Africa and India ; there is not a Mammal in JIadagascar which does not belong to 

 families whose types are both Indian and African ; thus confirming the idea of the former connexion 

 between these two lands. 



Chetromyid.e — CiiEiROMYs — Aye-Aye. This cxtraordinarj" aniinal is a native of ]\Iadagascar, 

 ■and only one species of the genus is known. Its place in the natural system has been the subject of 

 much discussion ; some, especially the older authors, placing it among the Squirrels,* others classing 

 it with the Lemurs. Some modern authors of eminence, and among them Dr. Giebcl,t also place 

 it next the Squirrels. Tlie reader will find full details regarding its affinities, in a paper by 

 Professor Owen in the Transactions of the Zoological Society.^ Its dentition is absolutely that of 

 a Squirrel or Beaver, and I may add two minor characters which I have not seen noticed, viz., its hair 

 and its dung, which are both those of the Squirrel. Notwithstanding this, however, on balancing the 

 characters on each side, its Lemurine relations seem to preponderate. Its appearance is that of a 

 Lemur, and one very marked peculiarih', which is shared by some of the Ijcmurida; and the Aye-Aye, 

 is entitled to much weight, viz., that one of the fingers (in the Aye-Aye tlie ring-finger) of 

 the fore or hind paws is specially altered in form and adapted in structure for picking insects out 

 of their holes in timber. This structure is very conspicuous in the Aye- Aye, but there is no in- 

 stance in which it occurs in the Squirrels or any other of the Rodents. Such a jwculiarity as this 



* See Cltvier's arrangement in the Appendix. Dr. t Giebel " Die SaugeUiicrc." 



Shaw also, who first described it, named it " Sciuars X Owen, in Trans. Zool. i-'oc. 18G2. 



Madagascariensis." 



