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Show 1882.] REV. L. BARON ON THE HABITS OF THE AYE-AYE. 639 2. Notes on the Habits of the Aye-aye of Madagascar in its Native State. By L. BARON, L.M.S. Missionary. [Received August 13, 1882.] Having recently passed through that part of Madagascar which is the habitat of the Aye-aye, and having made made careful inquiries from the Malagasy respecting the habits of this strange creature in its native haunts, I have thought that the information gained might be of interest to the members of the Society, and have therefore noted down the results of m y inquiries. The Aye-aye lives in the dense parts of the great forest that runs along the eastern border of the central plateau of the island, but only in that part of it which separates the Sihanaka province from that of the Betsimisaraka, and which is about twenty-five miles from the east coast, in latitude 17° 22' S. or thereabouts. Possibly there are other parts of the country where the Aye-aye is found ; but so far as m y knowledge extends (and I have made inquiries in different parts of the island) this is the only region where the creature finds its home. In Carpenter's ' Zoology ' the Aye-aye is said to be " very rare even in its native country ;" and Mr. Gosse, in one of his books, conjectures that it is probably nearly extinct. From what I have gathered from the natives, it seems to be pretty common, its nocturnal habits and the superstitious awe with which it is regarded (and of which I shall presently speak) accounting for its apparent rarity. • .. . , The native name of the animal is Haihay (Hihi); but this is not derived from the "exclamations of surprise" which the natives "exhibited at the sight of an unknown animal," but wnmply onomatopoetic, the creature's call being "Haihay, Haihay. live animal, as is well known, is nocturnal in its habits, prowling about in pairs-male and female. It has but one young one at a birth. It builds a nest about two feet in diameter, of twigs and dried leaves, in the dense foliage of the upper branches of trees. In this it spends the day in sleep. The nest is entered by a hole at the side. The teeth are used in scratching away the bark of trees in search of insects, and the long claw in digging out the prey when found. A white insect called Andraitra (possibly the larva of some beetle) seems to form its chief food. I was told that it frequently taps the bark with its fore feet, and then listens for the movement of its prey beneath, thus saving itself useless labour. It does not flee at the sight of man, showing that for generations it has not been molested by him ; which is indeed true, as the following will show. The natives have a superstitious fear of the creature, believing that it possesses some supernatural power by which it can destroy those who seek to capture it or do it harm. The consequence of this is that it is with the greatest difficulty one can obtain a specimen. With most of the people no amount of money would be a sufficient inducement to go in pursuit of the creature, "because," say they, P R O C ZOOL. Soc-1882, No. XLIII. 43 |