THE AYE-AYE. 



(Nov. 16, 1889.) 



THEEK are many animals in the Zoo whose habits 

 are so completely nocturnal that, for all that the 

 ordinary visitor can see of them, they might 

 as well have remained in their native haunts. 

 Certainly not the least interesting of these is the 

 Aye-Aye (Cheiromys Hadagascariensis) ; in fact, 

 there are few, if any, more interesting animals in 

 the collection, and, unfortunately, there are none 

 that are less often seen, as the animal in question 

 remains in a semi-torpid condition during the day 

 in the box at the top of its cage in the Monkey 

 House, never by any chance moving out, or indeed 

 showing itself. In consequence, visitors see nothing 

 but an apparently empty cage; those, however, 

 who are observant will notice that this cage, unlike 

 the neighbouring wall-cages in which the lemurs 

 are confined, is backed with patched zinc, and 

 contains a bough which has been much gnawed as 

 if by a rodent, the marks of its occupant's nightly 

 amusements. 



The Aye- Aye, as its scientific name implies, is a 

 native of Madagascar, and was long a puzzle to 

 naturalists, owing to its many peculiarities of form 



