THE TARSIER AND THE AYE-AYE 



245 



from native accounts, and from the specimen I have kept, that exactly the reverse is 

 the case. It is very savage, and, when attacking, strikes with its hands with any- 

 thing but a slow movement. As might be imagined in a nocturnal animal, its 

 movements in the daytime are slow and uncertain ; and it may be said to be inoffen- 

 sive then. When it bit at the wire netting in the front of its cage, I noticed that each 

 of the pair of incisors in either jaw would separate sufficiently to admit the thick 

 wire even down to the gum, the tips of the teeth then standing a considerable dis- 

 tance apart, leading to the supposition that, by some arrangement of the sockets of 

 the teeth, they could be moved so far without breaking. The haikay brings forth 

 one at a birth, in which the long claw is fully developed." 



THE TARSIER ACCORDING TO GUIHEMARD. 



(From The Cruise of the Marchesa.) 



It has been observed that captive aye-ayes are very partial to the juice of the 

 sugar-cane, which they obtain by ripping up the canes with their front teeth ; and 

 since sugar-cane grows wild in Madagascar, we may infer that its juice forms a part 

 of the food of these animals in their wild state. It is, therefore, probable that the 

 diet of the aye-aye is a mixed one, consisting partly of grubs, partly of the juices of 

 plants, partly of fruit ; but whether birds or their eggs also form a part of the bill 

 of fare must be left for future observers to determine. The favorite haunts of these 

 animals appear to be the bamboo-brakes, which form such a large portion of the 

 forest in some regions of the island. 



