5°4 



NATURE 



\_Sept. 21, 1S82 



of the contrivance from an account published in La 

 Nature, from which the accompanying illustration is 

 borrowed by permission of the editor. The solar gene- 

 rator was one of those devised by M. Abel Pifre, who has 

 improved in some points on the original invention of M. 



Mouchot. The insolator, shown in the middle of the pic- 

 ture, measured 3"Som. diameter at the aperture of the 

 parabolic mirror. It was set up in the garden, near the 

 large basin, at the foot of the flight of steps of the Jeu de 

 Paume. The steam from the boiler placed ^in its focus 



A Solar Printing Press. 



•was utilised by means of a small vertical motor (shown on 

 the left), having a power of 30 kilogrammetres, which 

 actuated a Marinoni press (on the right). Though the 

 sun was not very ardent, and the radiation was hindered 

 by frequent clouds, the press was worked with regularity 

 from 1 p.m. till 5.30 p m , printing on an average 500 



copies an hour, of a journal specially composed for the 

 occasion, viz., the Soldi Journal. This result, though 

 not indicating a revolution in the art of printing, may 

 enable one to judge of the services these insolators may 

 render in climates with a radiation more powerful and 

 constant. 



NOTES ON THE A YE-A YE OF MADAGASCAR 



HAVING recently passed through that part of Mada- 

 gascar which is the habitat of the Aye-aye, and 

 having made careful inquiries from the Malagasy respect- 

 ing the habits of this strange creature in its native haunts, 

 I have thought that the information gained might be of 

 interest to the readers of NATURE, and therefore note 

 down the result of my inquiries. 



The Aye-aye lives in the dense parts of the great forest 

 that runs along the eastern border of the central plateau 

 of the island, but only in that part of it which separates 

 the Antsihanaka province from that of the B&simisaraka, 

 and which is about twenty-five miles from the east coast, 

 in latitude \f 22' S., or thereabouts. Possibly there are 

 other parts of the country where the Aye-aye is found ; 

 but so far as my knowledge extends— and I have made 

 inquiries in different parts of the island— this is the only 

 region where the creature finds its home. In Carpenter's 

 "Zoology" the Aye-aye is said to be " very rare in its 

 native country" ; and Mr. Gosse in one of his books con- 

 jectures that it is probably nearly extinct ; but, from what 

 I gathered from the natives, it seems to be pretty common, 



its nocturnal habits and the superstitious awe with which 

 it is regarded (and of which I shall presently speak), 

 accounting for its apparent rarity. 



The native name of the animal is Haihay (Hlhi) ; but 

 this is not derived from the "exclamations of surprise" 

 which the natives "exhibited at the sight of an unknown 

 animal," but is simply onomatopceetic, the creature's call 

 being " Haihay, Haihay." The animal, as is well known, 

 is nocturnal in its habits, prowling about in pairs— male 

 and female. It has but one young one at a birth. It 

 builds a nest of about two feet in diameter, of twigs and 

 dried leaves, in the dense foliage of the upper branches of 

 trees. In this it spends the day in sleep. The nest is 

 entered by a hole in the side. 



The teeth are used in scratching away the bark of trees 

 in search of insects, and the long claw in dragging out the 

 prey when found. A white insect called Andraitra (pos- 

 sibly the larva of some beetle) seems to form its chief 

 food. I was told that it frequently taps the bark with its 

 fore feet, and then listens for the movement of its prey- 

 beneath, thus saving itself useless labour. It does not flee 

 at the sight of man, showing that for generations it has 

 not been molested by him ; which is indeed true, as the 



