44 REV. G. A. SHAW ON THE AYE-AYE. [Feb. 6, 



4. A few Rough Notes on the Aye-aye. 

 By the Rev. G. A. Shaw, 



[Received January 23, 1883.] 



This curious animal, the Chiromys madagascariensis, has evi- 

 dently been named from the exclamations of the people who first 

 saw it, and who, upon first sight of any thing so peculiar, would 

 naturally utter the usual Malagasy exclamation of surprise, Ilay ! 

 Hay ! And at the present time among the people it is called the 

 Haihay (pronounced Hayehaye). 



Being a nocturnal animal, it is very difficult to get any reliable 

 information concerning its habits in the wild state, and native reports 

 are altogether contradictory with respect to these matters. Even with 

 reference to its natural food no satisfactory explanation can be obtained 

 from the peoj)le. Many assert positively that it lives on honey ; but 

 one I had in captivity for several months would not eat honey in any 

 form, either strained or in the comb, or mixed with various things I 

 thought he might have a fancy for. Others say it lives on fruits 

 and leaves ; others that birds and eggs are its natural food. I fancy 

 from what I saw of my captive that both these conjectures are nearer 

 the truth ; for after a few days, during which it would eat nothing, 

 and it was thought that the proper food had not been ofi'ered (but it 

 was in reality pining or sulking), it took several fruits which I was 

 able to procure for it. It liked bananas ; but it made sorry efforts 

 at eating them, its teeth being so placed that its mouth was frequently 

 clogged with them. The small fruits of various native shrubs it also 

 devoured, as also rice boiled in milk and sweetened with sugar ; but 

 meat, larvae, moths, beetles, and eggs it would not touch. But I 

 noticed that when I came near its cage with a light, it almost inva- 

 riably started and went for a little distance in chase of the shadow 

 cast by the pieces of banana attached to the wire-work in the front 

 of its cage ; and I think that if I could have procured some small birds 

 it would have, if not devoured them, at any rate killed them for their 

 blood, as some Lemurs are known to do'. It drank water occasion- 

 ally, but iu such a way as to make it highly probable that it does not 

 drink from streams or pools in the ordinary way. It did not hold 

 its food in its hands as the Lemurs which I have had in captivity have 

 done, but merely used its hands to steady it on the bottom of the 

 cage. But whenever it had eaten, although it did not always clean 

 its hands, it invariably drew each of its long claws through its mouth, 



^ In proof of this, I need only instance one fact seen by several persons. 

 A. vessel under Captain Lassen was sailing along the coast betwee)i here and 

 Imahanore in the south, when, after a stormy morning, two laud-birds, which 

 had apparently been driven from shore and were exhausted, settled iu the after- 

 noon on one of the yards. A tame Lemur {Lemur alhifrons) on board saw the 

 birds alight, and crept up to them, seizing and killing them immediately, but 

 after having sucked the blood let them fall upon the deck. 



