1882.] REV. L. BARON ON THE HABITS OF THE AYE-AYE. 639 
2. Notes on the Habits of the Aye-aye of Madagascar in its 
Native State. By L. Baron, L.M.S. Missionary. 
[Received August 13, 1882.] 
Having recently passed through that part of Madagascar which is 
the habitat of the Aye-aye, and having made made careful inquiries 
from the Malagasy respecting the habits of this strange creature in 
its native haunts, I have thought that the information gained might 
be of interest to the members of the Society, and have therefore 
noted down the results 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 Sihanaka province from 
that of the Bétsimisdraka, and which is about twenty-five miles 
from the east coast, in latitude 17°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 even in its native country ;” and Mr. Gosse, in 
one of his books, conjectures that it is probably nearly extinct. From 
what I have 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 (Hihi); but this is not 
derived from the “exclamations of surprise’’ which the natives 
*‘exhibited at the sight of an unknown animal,” but is simply 
onomatopoetic, 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 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 at the side. 
The teeth are used in scratching away the bark of trees in search 
of insects, and the long claw in digging out the prey when found. 
A white insect called Andraitra (possibly 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 following will show. The 
natives have a superstitious fear of the creature, believing that it 
possesses some supernatural power by which it can destroy those 
who seek to capture it or do it harm. The consequence of this is 
that it is with the greatest difficulty one can obtain a specimen. 
With most of the people no amount of money would be a sufficient 
inducement to go in pursuit of the creature, “ because,” say they, 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1882, No. XLIII. 43 
