Quadrupeds. 7045 



in the order of rodents, and associated it with the squirrel and rat. 

 There are, without doubt, excellent reasons for associating it with the 

 lemurs, becaiise, in the first place, it comes from the only country 

 where the lemurs are found ; and secondly, because no rodent has 

 the rotating power in the bones of the fore-arm, neither can it, like 

 man, move its members separately and use them as prehensile instru- 

 ments, a peculiarity which we observe among the Quadrumana; and 

 certainly no rodent possesses opposable thumbs on all the four feet : 

 this character proves that the aye-aye has some affinity with the 

 monkey and lemur, and that it is capable of climbing trees. From 

 what 1 have just said it might be placed in the same family as the 

 lemur, especially as it comes from Madagascar, but we shall probably 

 change our opinion on examining the mouth. I would also wish you 

 to observe that at first sight it resembles the lemur equally in its 

 movements and the form of its body as in its tail and feet ; however, 

 if it is attentively examined, you will see that a great difference exists 

 between the feet of the aye-aye and those of the lemur. In the lemur 

 the finger which may be considered the index of that animal is pro- 

 vided with a claw, while the following fingers have flat nails, like those 

 of a human being or a monkey ; but you see in the aye-aye very 

 curious claws, which cannot be compared with those of any other animal. 

 They agree exactly with the habits of the aye-aye, just as those of the 

 lemur are fitted for the habits of that animal ; but they are very dif- 

 ferent. This is another proof that Nature has various ways of attaining 

 the same results. The fur of this animal is also less woolly than that 

 of the lemur, but it is in approaching the head that we perceive a 

 great difference between these two animals. First let me call your 

 attention to the form of the head. At first sight it appears to be that 

 of a nocturnal animal ; its large and naked ears, much resembling 

 those of a bat, are so constructed as to enable the animal to detect 

 the slightest noise in the silence of the night. I must confess that I 

 was a little puzzled on this point, this animal not being carnivorous 

 like the cat, which is obliged to listen for the footsteps of its prey ; it 

 is, on the contrary, frugivorous, but not exclusively so, otherwise its 

 teeth would resemble those of the monkey, — at least it would have no 

 occasion for the large incisors. Observe that its teeth are so formed 

 as to enable it to gnaw the hardest wood. They have no enamel, 

 except in front, so that the inner surface at the extremity of the tooth 

 is more quickly worn than the outer, and gives them the form of a 

 chisel. The roots of these incisor teeth are probably persistent, 

 like those of the other rodents, so that the teeth grow at the base 



