xvi THE INSECTIVOROUS OTTER 5 I 3 



L. mergulus, is about the size of Mus rattus ; it has webbed 

 toes and a powerful laterally - compressed tail. Clavicles are 

 present, which is not the case with Potamogale. 



Oryzoryctes is a Mole -like Centetid. It has fossorial fore- 

 limbs, but a fairly long tail. This genus is furry like the last 

 two. It is said to burrow in the rice -fields and to do much 

 harm. The teeth are forty in number, three incisors and three 

 molars in each half of each jaw. 



Fam. 4. Potamogalidae. This family contains two genera, 

 Potamogale and Geogale. 



Potamogale velox is a West African animal, which though an 

 Insectivore has the habits of an Otter. It is " somewhat larger 

 than a stoat." The upper surface of the body is dark brown, 

 the belly brownish yellow. It has a flat head and a long tail 

 like the Stoat, but the tail is laterally compressed and very 

 thick. The eyes are very small ; the nostril has valves. The 

 toes are not webbed ; but the second and third toes are united for 

 the whole length of their first phalanges. Along the outer side 

 of the foot is a thin extension of the integument. In swimming 

 the feet are drawn up along the body, hence webbing would be 

 of no use ; but the thin flattening prevents the edge of the foot 

 from acting as a hindrance to the motion of the animal. 

 M. du Chaillu describes it as catching fish, which it pursues 

 with extreme rapidity in the clear mountain streams it 

 frequents ; but Dr. Dobson, remarking that no stomachs have 

 been examined, thinks that water insects are more probably its 

 prey. It is not known whether the animal possesses a caecum. 

 The tooth formula l is 1 1 C ^ Pm f M f . The animal is excep- 

 tional among the Insectivora in having no clavicles. 2 There are 

 sixteen ribs ; there is no zygomatic arch, and the pterygoids 

 converge posteriorly. 



Geogale, with one species, G. aurita, is a small representative of 

 this family from Madagascar. It has only thirty-four teeth. When 

 better known it may be necessary, thinks Mr. Lydekker, to make 

 this animal the type of a separate family. The tibia and fibula 

 are distinct, not confluent with one another as in Potamogale. 



Fam. 5. Solenodontidae. This family contains but a single 

 genus. 



1 Allman states the canines to be absent. I follow Flower and Lydekker. /<O/o * 



2 See Allman in Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. 1869, p. 1. /^"^ '^^~ < C f 



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