THE TARSI ER AND THE AYE-AYE 243 



which, as we shall shortly learn, appear to form a portion of the creature's natural 

 diet. 



In size the aye-aye may be compared to a cat ; its total length being about three 

 feet, of which the larger moiety is formed by the bushy tail. The comparison with 

 a cat may be further extended to the short and rounded head and cat-like face of 

 the animal. The rounded ears are, however, relatively larger than those of a cat, . 

 and have the peculiarity of being nearly naked. The fur is long, and composed of 

 a mixture of longer stiffish hairs, with an under-coat of more bushy and shorter 

 ones. The prevailing color is dark brown, tending to black ; the throat being yel- 

 lowish gray, and the under parts showing a rufous tinge. Some of the longer hairs 

 on the back are whitish, thus producing a somewhat mottled appearance in the fur. 



The aye-aye was discovered by the French traveler Sonnerat who likewise 

 first obtained the indri as far back as the year 1780 ; and it was described in the 

 first year of the present century by Baron Cuvier, who regarded it as a kind of 

 squirrel. Nothing more was heard of the creature from Sonnerat' s time till 1860, 

 when specimens were sent to this country, and described by Sir Richard Owen. 

 The following account of the habits of the aye-aye in its native land was published 

 in 1882 by Mr. L. Baron, a missionary in Madagascar. "The aye-aye," writes Mr. 

 Baron, "lives in the dense parts of the great forest that runs along the eastern 

 border of the central plateau of the island, but only in that part of it which separates 

 the Sihanaka province from that of the Betsimisaraka, and which is about twenty- 

 five miles from the east coast, in latitude 17 22" S., or thereabouts. Possibly 

 there are other parts of the country where the aye-aye is found ; but so far as my 

 knowledge extends (and I have made inquiries in different parts of the island), this 

 is the only region where the creature finds its home. . . . From what I have 

 gathered from the natives, it seems to be pretty common, its nocturnal habits, and 

 the superstitious awe with which it is regarded (and of which I shall speak pres- 

 ently), accounting for its apparent rarity. 



"The native name of the animal is Haihay (Hihi); but this is not derived 

 from the exclamations of surprise which the natives exhibited at the sight of an 

 unknown animal, but is simply onomatopoetic, the creature's call being haihay 

 haihay. The animal, as is well known, is nocturnal in its habits, prowling about in 

 pairs male and female. It has but one young at a birth. It builds a nest about 

 two feet in diameter, of twigs and dried leaves, in the dense foliage of the upper 

 branches of trees. In this it spends the day in sleep. The nest is entered by a 

 hole at the side. The teeth are used in scratching away the bark of trees in search 

 of insects, and the long claw in digging out the prey when found. A white insect 

 called Andraitra (possibly the larva of some beetle), seems to form its chief food. 

 I was told that it frequently taps the bark with its fore-feet, and then listens for the 

 movement of its prey beneath, thus saving itself useless labor. It does not flee at 

 the sight of man, showing that for generations it has not been molested by him ; 

 which is indeed true, as the following will show. The natives have a superstitious 

 fear of the creature, believing that it possesses some supernatural power by which it 

 can destroy those who seek to capture it or to do it harm. The consequence of this 

 is that it is with the greatest difficulty one can obtain a specimen. With most of 



