attention may be called to the long and bushy tail, to the greater length of the hind-limbs, to the abdominal teats (one pair) in the female, and above all to the singular third digit of the hand, which is thin and elongated. The thumb is, as in other Lemurs, opposable, and has a flat nail; the remaining digits have claws, as have also the toes with the exception of the great toe, which has a flat nail like the thumb.
The anatomy of this animal has occupied the attention of a considerable number of observers, dating from Sir R. Owen, who was the first to give a connected account of its entire organisation. The most recent paper of importance is by Dr. Oudemans.[1] The teeth are very unlike those of other Lemurs. The most remarkable divergence is in the incisors, which are present to the number of but a single pair in each jaw, and are shaped like those of the Rodentia, and in the same way as in that group grow from persistent pulps. There are likewise, as in the Rodents, no canines. There are two premolars in the upper jaw (none in the lower) and altogether twelve molars, so that there is a total of eighteen teeth. The intestine has a moderately long caecum. The brain has been most fully described by Oudemans, who had fresh material to work with, the brain described by Owen having been extracted from a spirit-preserved carcase. The angular fissure is well developed, as in Lemur and the Indri; but it does not join the infero-frontal. The antero-temporal fissure is also well developed.
"The name of Aye-aye," wrote Sonnerat, the discoverer of the animal, "which I have retained for it, is a cry of surprise of the inhabitants of Madagascar." It is, however, usually said that the animal itself makes a sound which may be written in the same way (or with an initial H). It is an arboreal and nocturnal animal, which accounts for its excessive rarity at one time. In one of his many eloquent essays upon natural history the late Mr. P. H. Gosse adduced the Aye-aye as an example of a creature on the verge of extinction. It is, however, now more frequently met with, though the superstition of the natives renders its capture a matter of some difficulty. There is a specimen at the moment of writing in the Zoological Society's Gardens. There has been some discussion as to the use of the slender middle finger: it is stated that it can thrust it into the
- ↑ Verh. Ak. Amsterdam, xxvii. 1890.
