CLASS MAMMALIA. 



ORDER PRIMATES. PRIMATES. 



SUBORDER 1. LEMUROIDEA. 



FAMILY 1. DAUBENTONIID/E. 



GENUS 1. DATJBENTONIA. THE AYE-AYE. 



t 1—1 r^ 0—0 r» 1—1 -\k 3—3 



1.1=1; C. 0=5; P. JZ3; M. 3=3 = 20. 



DAUBENTONIA E. Geoff., Decad. Philos. et Litt., 1795, p. 195. Type 



Sciurus madagascariensis Gmelin. 

 Scolecophagus E. Geoff., Decad. Philos. et Litt., 1795, p. 196. 

 Aye-Aye Lacepede, Tabl. Mamm., 1799, p. 6. 

 Cheiromys G. Cuv., Legons Anat. Comp., I, 1800. 

 Psilodactylus Oken, Lehrb. Naturg., 1816, 3ter, Theil, Zool., 2te 



Abth., pp. IX, 1164-5. 

 Myspithecus Blainv., Osteog. Mamm., I, 1839, fasc. Ill, p. 33, 



(nee Cuvier). 

 Myslemur Blainv., Diet. Univ. Hist. Nat., VIII, 1846, p. 559. 



Head round ; muzzle short ; eyes round, with bristly brows ; nictitat- 

 ing membrane present ; ears large, rounded, inclined backwards, naked, 

 with numerous protuberances ; tail long, bushy ; legs longer than arms ; 

 fingers long, claws compressed, pointed ; third finger very slender, 

 attenuate; thumb and great toe opposable, placed at an angle to the 

 other digits ; teats two, abdominal. Skull : braincase arched ; muzzle 

 short; halves of mandible independent, united at an acute angle by 

 elastic tissue. Incisors large, curved, enamelled in front only ; canines 

 wanting ; diastema present before first premolar which is much smaller 

 than the molars ; molars with flat crowns, tubercles indistinct. 



Daubentonia madagascariensis (Gmelin). 



Aye-Aye Sonner., Voy. Ind., II, 1782, p. 138, t. 76 ; Ellis, Madag., 

 1858, p. 153; Bartl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1862, p. 222; Id. 

 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., XII, 1863, Ser. 3, p. 72; XVI, 1865, 

 Ser. 3, p. 142. 



