The Aye- Aye. 21 



and structure. Its dentition is most curious, and 

 much resembles that of the rodents. It has only 

 eighteen teeth, of which the four front ones, two 

 in the upper and two in the lower jaw, are much 

 like those of a rat Cuvier compared the lower 

 teeth to ploughshares these powerful incisors or 

 cutting-teeth are used for cutting away wood, 

 making holes in branches, and also for gnawing 

 through the stems of sugar-canes and similar 

 plants ; the ears are very large, round, and open, 

 and have, not inaptly, been compared to those of 

 a bat ; the eyes are wide and staring ; and a fact 

 which adds to the weirdness of the animal's 

 appearance it possesses a perfect, that is an 

 uncleft, upper lip. Its feet, however, especially 

 the forefeet or hands, are amongst its most striking 

 peculiarities, the latter, indeed, being unlike those 

 of any other animal ; all the fingers and toes, with 

 the exception of the hallux or great toe, which, 

 like that of all the quadrumana, is opposable, and 

 has a flat nail, are furnished with long, compressed 

 claws ; but and herein lies the great peculiarity 

 the third and fourth fingers of the hands are 

 very long, the fourth being the largest and longest, 

 while the third is so extraordinarily thin and 

 wasted in appearance that, to quote Professor 

 Owen, it seems as if it were paralysed. The 

 animal is about three feet in length, including the 

 tail, which is long and bushy longer, indeed, than 

 the body ; and the whole creature, with the excep- 

 tion of its ears, nose, and the soles of its feet and 



