ic
inspiration. By these plays and by _Rioja_ and _Consuelo_ he is entitled to
be judged. They will at least ensure for him an honourable place in the
history of the modern Spanish theatre.

A complete edition of his dramatic works, edited by his friend and rival
Tamayo y Baus, has been published in seven volumes (Madrid, 1881-1885).

(J. F.-K.)

AYE-AYE, a word of uncertain signification (perhaps only an exclamation),
but universally accepted as the designation of the most remarkable and
aberrant of all the Malagasy lemurs (see PRIMATES). The aye-aye, _Chiromys_
(or _Daubentonia_) _madagascariensis_, is an animal with a superficial
resemblance to a long-haired and dusky-coloured cat with unusually large
eyes. It has a broad rounded head, short face, large naked eyes, large
hands, and long thin fingers with pointed claws, of which the [v.03 p.0072]
third is remarkable for its extreme slenderness. The foot resembles that of
the other lemurs in its large opposable great toe with a flat nail; but all
the other toes have pointed compressed claws. Tail long and bushy. General
colour dark brown, the outer fur being long and rather loose, with a woolly
under-coat. Teats two, inguinal in position. The aye-aye was discovered by
Pierre Sonnerat in 1780, the specimen brought to Paris by that traveller
being the only one known until 1860. Since then many others have been
obtained, and one lived for several years in the gardens of the Zoological
Society of London. Like so many lemurs, it is completely nocturnal in its
habits, living either alone or in pairs, chiefly in the bamboo forests.
Observations upon captive specimens have led to the conclusion that it
feeds principally on juices, especially of the sugar-cane, which it obtains
by tearing open the hard woody circumference of the stalk with its strong
incisor teeth; but it is said also to devour certain species of wood-boring
caterpillars, which it obtains by first cutting down with its teeth upon
their burrows, and then picking them out of their retreat with the claw of
its attenuated middle finger. It constructs large ball-like nests of dried
leaves, lodged in a fork of the branches of a large tree, and with the
opening on one side.

Till recently the aye-aye was regarded as representing a family by
itself--the _Chiromyidae_; but the discovery that it resembles the other
lemurs of Madagascar in the structure of the inner ear, and thus differs
from all other members of the g