PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE AYE-AYE. 37 



" has the external form of Galago, a genus of Lemurids, and forms (by its arched skull 

 also) in some degree the transition from the Rodents to the Quadrumanes." 



In the admirable translation of this work, for which English naturalists are indebted 

 to the laborious and accomplished Professor of Anatomy in the University of Cambridge, 

 the verdict of the Dutch zoologist is left unchallenged', and it is from the point of view 

 thus attainable in 1858 that I have started in availing myself of the materials at command 

 for gaining further and surer insight into the nature and affinities of the so-called 

 Chiromys madagascariensis. 



In that year the Hon. H. Sandwith, M.D., C.B., proceeded to the Mauritius, 

 of which he had been appointed Colonial Secretary ; and, prior to his departure 

 from England, he applied for, and received from me, special instructions as to the 

 most interesting and desirable objects of natural history in that colony. Amongst 

 these, besides the bones of the Dodo and SoUtaire, I specified, as obtainable from the 

 neighbouring island of Madagascar, the bones and eggs of the Spyornis, and, above all, 

 a specimen, alive or preserved in spirits, of the Aye-aye (Chiromys). 



In March 1859, I was favoured with the following letter from my accomplished and 

 energetic correspondent : — 



"Mauritius, January 27, 1859. 

 " My dear Mr. Ovi^en, — After very great difficulty and much delay, I have at length 

 obtained a tine, healthy, male, adult Aye-aye, and he is enjoying himself in a large cage 

 which I have had constructed for him. And now I have some questions to ask you. Do 

 you want him dead or alive ? It will, of course, be much easier to send his dead body home, 

 if that will do ; and, if so, how am I to preserve him ? If you want him alive, you must 

 tell me so without delay, as I think it would be dangerous to send him home so as to 

 arrive in the cold season. I observe he is sensitive of cold, and likes to cover himself 

 up in a piece of flannel, although the thermometer is now often 90° in the shade. He 

 is a most interesting httle animal, and from close observation I have learned his habits 

 very correctly. On receiving him from Madagascar, I was told that he ate bananas ; 

 so of course I fed him on them, but tried him with other fruit. I found he liked dates, 

 — which was a grand discovery, supposing he be sent alive to England. Still I thought 

 that those strong rodent teeth, as large as those of a young Beaver, must have been in- 

 tended for some other purpose than that of trying to eat his way out of a cage — the only 

 use he seemed to make of them, besides masticating soft fruits. Moreover he had other 

 peculiarities, — e. g., singularly large, naked ears, directed forward, as if for offensive 

 rather than defensive purposes ; then, again, the second finger of the hands is unlike 

 anything but a monster supernumerary member, it being slender and long, half the 

 thickness of the other fingers, and resembling a piece of bent wire. Excepting the 

 head and this finger, he closely resembles a Lemur. 



' • Handbook of Zoology,' by J. Van der Hoeven, translated by the Rev. Prof. Clark, F.R.S., 8to, vol. ii. 1858, 

 p. 695. 



