THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
latter. Cumming *® kept one in a cage and found it gentle, 
affectionate, extremely cleanly, and with many pretty ways; 
and when its single young one was born it carefully concealed 
the baby from view, when it was nursing it, and carried it 
around in its mouth like a cat. 
The malmag’s nearest relative is the even more extraordinary 
aye-aye of eastern Madagascar, alone representing the family 
Chiromyide, and having much the appearance of a 
small, big-eyed squirrel with a weasel’s face. The 
teeth are curiously squirrel-like, too, there being no canines, 
and the incisors large and of continuous growth; while the 
Aye-aye. 
See a 
THE MADAGASCAR AYE-AYE. 
total number is only eighteen. Its fur is long and blackish, 
with yellowish white about thé face, chest, and under parts. 
The hind feet are monkeylike, but the hands terminate in 
long bony fingers with birdlike claws, and the fourth finger is 
much more slender and elongated than the others. This curi- 
ous finger aids it in pulling grubs out of holes, scooping out the 
pulp of fruits, and keeping itself clean —a process to which 
captive specimens devote much time, hanging by their hind 
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