126 MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



since it was first brought to the notice of zoologists 

 in the year 1780 by the French traveller and natur- 

 alist, Pierre Sonnerat. He considered it to resemble 

 a squirrel in many ways, although in other respects 

 showing similar characters to those of the lemurs 

 and monkeys. Both Buff on and Cuvier were also 

 of the opinion that the creature was a kind of 

 squirrel, and therefore considered themselves justi- 

 fied in classifying it among the family of rodents. 



More modern investigation, however, revealed 

 so many peculiarities in the animal's structure 

 that it was finally regarded as a distinct genus, of 

 which it was the sole representative. 



The reason for assuming the aye-aye to be a 

 rodent was owing to the nature of its teeth, the 

 incisors being square or chisel-shaped at their 

 extremities, and faced with a layer of hard enamel. 

 The tusks or eye-teeth, moreover, are absent, and 

 the molars or cheek-teeth are separated from the 

 incisors by a considerable space — features all of 

 which are characteristic of the rodent tribe. Such 

 being the case, it was not surprising that the animal 

 should have been placed among the rodentia, and 

 for a considerable period it remained among that 

 order in zoological classification. All previous 

 opinions, however, were set at naught in after years 

 by the discovery that the dentition of the young 

 aye-aye was quite different to that of the adult, 

 and more closely resembled that of the lemurs. 



Another important feature in which the animal 

 resembles the lemurs, thereby proving that it cannot 

 claim affinity with the rodents, resides in the fact 



