



xvi MIMICRY IN TUPAIA 5 I I 



perforated as in Erinaceus (it is not so in Gymnura and Hylomys), 

 but on the whole it comes nearest to Hylomys. 



Fam. 2. Tupaiidae. This family contains the genera Tupaia 

 and Ptilocercus. Tupaia is Oriental in range, extending as far 

 east as Borneo. There are a dozen or so of species, which are 

 generally arboreal and have the outward aspect of Squirrels. It 

 has been suggested that this is a case of mimicry, the animal 

 gaining some advantage by its likeness to the Rodent. The 

 name Tupaia, it should be added, means Squirrel, and the long- 

 nosed Squirrel, Sciurus laticaudatus, is so extraordinarily like it 

 that " one has to look at the teeth " to distinguish them. 

 Moreover, this Squirrel, like some Tupaias, lives largely on the 

 ground among fallen logs. Tupaia resembles a Lemur in the 

 complete orbit. The dental formula is 1^ C^ Pmf M^= 38. 

 The sublingua, too, is stated by Garrod to be like that of 

 Chiromys. There is a minute caecum in T. belangeri, none in 

 T. tana. 



Ptilocercus 1 has a pen -like posterior portion to the tail, a 

 modification which is found in other groups of animals. The 

 tail of certain Phalangers, for instance, shows this same modi- 

 fication. The rest of the tail is scaly. The animal, as was 

 pointed out by Dr. Gray, 2 looks very much like a Phalanger. 

 The orbit is entire as in Tupaia. The fingers and toes are five. 

 The one species, called after Sir Hugh Low, G.C.M.G., P. lowi, is 

 a Bornean animal. 



Fam. 3. Gentetidae. This family is entirely confined to the 

 Island of Madagascar. It includes some seven genera. The best- 

 known genus is Centetes. C. ecaudatus, the Tanrec, Tenrec, or 

 Tendrac, is an animal a foot or so in length, without a tail, and with 

 forty-four teeth. 3 The immature animal is so different from the 

 parent as to appear quite a different form. It has three narrow 

 rows of spines along the back, which do not wholly disappear 

 until the permanent dentition has been acquired. Even then 

 the hairs are of a rather spiny character, particularly those upon 

 the back of the head, which are erected when the animal is 



1 "Notes on the Visceral Anatomy of the Tupaia of Burmah," Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1879, p. 301. 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1848, p. 23. 



3 I quote Woodward, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1896, for this dentition. The fourth 

 molar of the lower jaw is not always present. It comes late, and only old animals 

 possess it. 



