[ 33 3 



II. On the Aye-aye (Chiromys, Cuvier ; Chiromys madagascariensis, Desm. ; Sciurus 

 madagascariensis, Gmel, Sonnerat ; Lemur psilodactylus, Schreber, Shaw). By 

 Professor Owen, F.R.S., F.Z.S., S^c. 



Read January 14 and 28, 1862. 



[Plates XIV.-XXVL] 

 § 1 . Historical Introduction. 



This mammal was discovered by Sonnerat, in the island of Madagascar, about the 

 year 1 780, and was first described and figured in the work by that traveller, entitled 

 ' Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine, depuis 1774 jusqu'en 1781,' Paris, 2 vols. 

 4to, 1782. 



In the second edition (8vo, 4 vols.) of this work, published in 1806, from which 

 I quote, the description is given in vol. iv. p. 121 ; and the engraving of the animal, 

 copied into subsequent works treating of the Aye-aye, down to Ellis's ' Madagascar,' of 

 1858', forms plate 99 of the quarto volume of 140 plates accompanying the 8vo text of 

 Sonnerat. 



The stuffed skin which is the subject of the above engraving was presented by 

 Sonnerat to Buffon-, and is now in the Museum of Zoology, in the Garden of Plants, 

 Paris, where, until very recently, it was the unique representative in Europe of the 

 singular animal in question 



Sonnerat commences his description by stating that, "although the Aye-aye much 

 resembles a Squirrel, yet it differs therefrom by some essential characters, being also 

 allied to the Lemur and the Monkey^." Describing the fore foot, Sonnerat specifies the 

 long, slender, naked joints of the middle digit, "which the animal," he says, " makes 

 use of to draw out of holes in trees the worms which form its food^." 



Sonnerat had both a male and female, which, on board ship, were fed on cooked 

 rice, and lived only two months. He obtained them from the west coast of Mada- 

 gascar, which he afiirms to be the part of the island they inhabit. The natives of the 

 east coast declared that his specimens were the first they had seen ; and their cry of 



' "Three Visits to Madagascar,' by the Rev. William Ellis, 8to, 1858, p. 144. 



' " J'ai examine de prfes la peau d'un de ces animaux que M. Sonnerat m'a donne pour le cabinet du Roi." 

 — Bufon, Hist. Nat. Suppl. torn. vii. 4to, 1 789. 



' "Ce quadrupede se rapproche beaucoup de I'^cureuil; cependant, comme on le verra, il en differe par des 

 caracteres essentiels : il tient aussi du Maquis et du Singe" (op. cit. p. 122). M. de BlainTiUe can scarcely 

 haye had this passage in memory when he wrote, " mais jamais Sonnerat n'a cherche ses rapports naturels avec 

 d'autres animaux connus" (' Oste'ographie,' "Me'moire sur I'Aye-aye," 4to, 1840, p. 34). 



■* " Les deux dernieres articulations du doigt du milieu sont longues, greles, d&u^es de poils : il s'en sert pour 

 tirer des trous des arbres les Ters qui sont sa nourriture " {ih.). 



VOL. v. PART II. f 



