THE AYE-AYE. 



87 



alive to Europe, a specimen kept in the 

 Zoological Gardens of London; and once 

 when, on hearing it rustling in its straw, I 

 wished to examine it by lamp-light the 

 creature instantly rolled itself up into a ball, 

 putting its head between its legs and wrap- 

 ping its tail round both. In its native land 

 the animal sleeps by day in bamboo thickets. 

 By night, however, it is lively, climbing up 

 and down on the trees, and leaping actively 

 and cleverly. It utters a sort of grunting 

 sound, and seeks its food, which consists of 

 insects, larvee, and the sweet pith of the sugar 

 and bamboo canes, by gnawing a hole in the 

 cane or in trees and then transfixing its prey 

 with its thin withered-up middle finger, or 

 scooping out the pith by means of the same. 

 The London specimen was very lazy, ill- 

 natured, and apt to bite, but this was un- 

 questionably due to its long captivity, for 

 Sonnerat, who discovered the creature in 

 Madagascar, describes it as good-natured 

 and confiding. 



THE AFRICAN PROSIMIANS. 



The Potto Family {Pterodiclida). 



The family of the Pottos or the African 

 Slow Lemurs is composed of only two noc- 

 turnal animals, with woolly fur, medium-sized 

 round eyes, and short naked ears, somewhat 

 pointed snout, slender body, short tail, fore- 

 and hind-limbs of almost equal length, but 

 with rather large hands, which have only a 

 rudimentary nailless forefinger. They have 

 in each jaw above and below only two in- 

 cisors, the lower ones placed horizontally, 

 sharp-edged canines, three single-cusped pre- 

 molars, and the same number of tolerably 

 sharp-cusped molars. The dental formula is 



2 • I • ^ • ^ 



, . ^ . ^ . = 36 teeth. 



21-33 



Two genera, Pterodicticus and Arctocebus, 



have been formed rather unnecessarily out of 



the two species, the Potto and Angwantibo, 



living respectively in .Sierra Leone and Old 

 Calabar, the points of distinction being the 

 degree of development of the forefinger and 

 tail. In accordance with this division these 

 two species are called in scientific nomen- 

 clature Pterodicliais Potto (fig. 31) and 

 Arctocebus calabarensis (fig. 32). Both 



i-'g- 31 



-The Potto (Pterodicticus Potto). 



species have large thumbs and great toes 

 covered with a flat nail, fiat nails on all the 

 digits except the second of the hind-feet, 

 which has a large erect sharp claw. In the 

 potto the fore-finger, though rudimentary, is 

 still recognizable, the tail stump -like, the 

 body slender; while in the plump angwantibo, 

 which has larger eyes and ears than the 

 potto, the forefinger has shrunk to a mere 

 wart, and the tail likewise is so reduced 

 in size as to be quite hidden in the fur, 

 which is much more woolly than that of 

 the potto. On account of the large eyes 

 and ears this form is sometimes called the 

 bear-lemur. 



So far as our scanty information regarding 



