1 82 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



It was dissected and described by Owen in i860; and 

 from the beautiful drawing by Wolf which accompanies 

 that memoir the figure illustrating the present article is 

 reproduced. 



Soon after the arrival of the specimen sent to Owen 

 a living example of this strange animal was received at 

 the menagerie of the Zoological Society in Regent's Park ; 

 this being a female presented in 1862 by Mr. E. Mellish. 

 An excellent account of the habits of this animal in 

 captivity was published by the late Mr. A. D. Bartlett in 

 the Society's Proceedings for the same year. A male and 

 female were also received in the menagerie in the summer 

 of 1883, while a fourth specimen was purchased in the 

 autumn of 1887. 



The ordinary public saw, however, little or nothing of 

 these specimens, for as might be inferred by its large 

 eyes, the aye-aye is essentially a nocturnal creature, 

 remaining comfortably curled up during the daylight hours, 

 and only venturing out as darkness comes on. In this 

 respect it resembles the majority of its cousins the lemurs ; 

 and were we naming animals afresh, the name lemur would 

 in some ways have been more appropriate to this particular 

 species than to those to which it properly belongs. For 

 the word " lemur " in its original signification means a 

 ghost, and not only is the aye-aye stealthy and ghost-like 

 in its movements, but it is regarded with superstitious 

 dread by the Malagasy, who believe it to be a kind 

 of spirit. 



As already mentioned, the aye-aye has somewhat the 

 appearance of a large dark-coloured squirrel ; and in size 

 it may be compared roughly to a cat, the total length 

 being about three feet. The head and face are short and 

 rounded ; and the large eyes are furnished with a membrane 



