182 MOSTLY MAMMALS 
It was dissected and described by Owen in 1860; and 
from the beautiful drawing by Wolf which accompanies 
that memoir the figure illustrating the present article is 
reproduced. 
Soon after the arrival of the specimen sent to Owen 
a living example of this strange animal was received at 
the menagerie of the Zoological Society in Regent’s Park; 
this being a female presented in 1862 by Mr. E. Mellish. 
An excellent account of the habits of this animal in 
captivity was published by the late Mr. A. D. Bartlett in 
the Society’s Proceedings for the same year. A male and 
female were also received in the menagerie in the summer 
of 1883, while a fourth specimen was purchased in the 
autumn of 1887. 
The ordinary public saw, however, little or nothing of 
these specimens, for as might be inferred by its large 
eyes, the aye-aye is essentially a nocturnal creature. 
remaining comfortably curled up during the daylight hours, 
and only venturing out as darkness comes on. In this 
respect it resembles the majority of its cousins the lemurs ; 
and were we naming animals afresh, the name lemur would 
in some ways have been more appropriate to this particular 
species than to those to which it properly belongs. For 
the word “lemur” in its original signification means a 
ghost, and not only is the aye-aye stealthy and ghost-like 
in its movements, but it is regarded with superstitious 
dread by the Malagasy, who believe it to be a kind 
of spirit. 
As already mentioned, the aye-aye has somewhat the 
appearance of a large dark-coloured squirrel; and in size 
it may be compared roughly to a cat, the total length 
being about three feet. The head and face are short and 
rounded ; and the large eyes are furnished with a membrane 
