THE AYE-AYE. 



alive to Europe, a specimen kept in the 

 Zoological Gardens of London; and once 

 when, on hearing it rustling in its straw, I 



S? 



living respectively in Sierra Leone and Old 

 Calabar, the points of distinction being the 

 degree of dex'elopment of the forefinger and 



wished to examine it by lamp-light the | tail. In accordance with this division these 

 creature mstantly rolled itself up into a ball, two species are called in scientific nomen- 



putting its head between its legs and wrap 

 ping its tail round both. In its native land 

 the animal sleeps by day in bamboo thickets 

 By night, however, it is lively, climbing up 

 and down on the trees, and leaping activeh 

 and cleverly. It utters a sort of eruntino 

 sound, and seeks its food, which consists of 

 insects, larvae, and the sweet pith of the suoar 

 and bamboo canes, by gnawing a hole in the 

 cane or in trees and then transfixing its pre\ 

 with its thin withered-up middle finger, or 

 scooping out the pith by means of the same 

 The London specimen was very lazy, ill- 

 natured, and apt to bite, but this was un- 

 quesdonably due to its long captivity, for 

 Sonnerat, who discovered the creature in 

 Madagascar, describes it as good-natured 

 and confiding 



THE AFRICAN PROSIMIANS. 



The Potto Family {PfavdictiJa). 



The family of the Pottos or the African 

 Slow Lemurs is composed of only two noc- 

 turnal animals, with woolly fur, medium-sized 

 round eyes, and short naked ears, somewhat 

 pointed snout, slender body, short tail, fore- 

 and hind -limbs of almost equal length, but 

 with rather large hands, which ha\-e only a 

 rudimentary nailless forefinger. They ha\e 

 in each jaw above and below only two in- 

 cisors, the lower ones placed horizontally, 

 sharp-edged canines, three single-cusped pre- 

 molars, and the same number of tolerably 

 sharp-cusped molars. The dental formula is 



= 36 teeth. 



Two genera, Pterodicticus and Arctocebus, 

 have been formed rather unnecessarily out of 

 the two species, the Potto and Angwantibo, 



clature Ptcrodiciicns Potto (fie 

 Arctocebus calal>aunu\ ( fio 



and 

 Both 



TliL pLtto {ftu 11 tun Pott-i) 



species ha\-e large thumbs and great toes 

 covered with a fiat nail, fiat nails on all the 

 digits except the second of the hind-feet, 

 which has a large erect sharp claw. In the 

 potto the tore-finger, though rudimentary, is 

 still recognizable, the tail stump -like, the 

 body slender; while in the plump angwantibo, 

 which has larger eyes and ears than the 

 potto, the forefinger has shrunk to a mere 

 wart, and the tail likewise is so reduced 

 in size as to be quite hidden in the fur, 

 which is much more woolly than that of 

 the potto. On account of the large eyes 

 and ears this form is sometimes called the 

 bear-lemur. 



So far as our scantv information resiardinaf 



