512 



CENTS TES AND ITS ALLIES 



CHAP. 



annoyed. The Tanrec feeds mainly upon earthworms. It is 

 "probably the most prolific of all animals," since as many as 

 twenty-one young are said to have been brought forth at a birth. 

 Some Opossums, however, have twenty-five teats. 



Hemicentetes 1 is a genus with two species. These have spines 

 mixed with the fur of the back. There is no caecum in this or 



jo. maze- 



FIG. 248. Skull of Tenrec. Centetes ecaudatus. fr, Frontal ; max, maxilla ; pa, 

 parietal ; p.max, premaxilla ; sq, squamosal. (After Dobsou.) 



in other Centetidae. The teeth are forty in number, there being 

 only three molars. 



Ericulus setosus is a small Insectivore, resembling externally 

 a small Hedgehog. It is covered with close-set spines which, 

 unlike what is found in Erinaceus, extend over the short tail. 

 The total number of teeth is thirty -six, the formula being 

 If C}Pmf Mf. 



Uchinops 2 is another spiny genus which is a stage in advance 

 of Ericulus, for still another molar has been lost, reducing the 

 total number of teeth to thirty-two. The dental formula is thus 

 I -| C ^ Pm ^ M -|. The zygomata are reduced to mere threads. 



Microgale, a genus recently instituted by Mr. Thomas, is a 

 small furry Insectivore with a long tail, which is more than 

 double the length of the head and body. There are no less than 

 forty-seven vertebrae in the tail, which is relatively longer than 

 that of any other mammal. 



Limnogale, discovered by Forsyth Major, is an aquatic genus, 

 also furry and not spiny, which has departed from the Cente- 

 tid type and taken to an aquatic life. The single species, 



1 Mivart in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 58. 



2 Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1892, p. 500. 



