20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 45. 



recall are those of Schneider/ who had a pak alive for some hours. 

 The only food he offered them was bananas, which they did not eat. 

 Of Tupaia Cantor ^ says: "The natural food is mixed insectivorous 

 and frugivorous. In confinement, indi%dduals may be fed exclu- 

 sively on either, though preference is evinced for insects; and eggs, 

 fish, and earthworms are equally rehshed." 



Of the Indian Tupaias Anderson^ says: "One stomach was full 

 of the imperfectly digested remams of a small yellow ladybird with 

 a sprinkling of the elytra of small beetles. Tliere were also small 

 masses of a jeUy-Hke substance with very fine fibers." 



Hardwicke * in an introduction to Diard and Duvaucel's account 

 of Tupaia glis, says: "A Hving one was brought to Bengal by a 

 medical gentleman some months ago; it runs about the house tame> 

 but will not allow itself to be caught for close inspection; though 

 at liberty to run out of doors whenever it hkes, it shews no dispo- 

 sition to leave its quarters, and evinces some attachment to the 

 family; for whenever strangers enter the house, it shews disquietude 

 by a chattering like noise. It occasions no trouble in feeding, for 

 it is always on the search after insects, and its favorite food seems 

 to be flies, crickets, grasshoppers, and cockroaches." 



Jerdon^ writes of Tupaia chinensis at Darjeehng: "It frequents 

 the zone from 3,000 to 6,000 feet, and was said, by the natives, to 

 kUl small birds, mice, &c." 



Robinson and Kloss," speaking of Tupaia glis ferruginea, say: 

 "The diet is very mixed, consisting of ants and other insects, fruits, 

 seeds, and buds." 



HABITS. 



Cantor ^ writes on the habits of Tupaia: ^^The young of this very 

 numerous species (T. ferruginea) in hilly jungle, is easily tamed, 

 and becomes famihar with its feeder, though toward strangers it 

 retains its original mistrust, which in mature age is scarcely reclaim- 

 able. In a state of nature it lives singly or in pairs, fiercely attacking 

 intruders of its own species. When several are confined together, 

 they fight each other, or jointly attack and destroy the weakest. A 

 short pecuHar tremulous whisthng sound, often heard by calls and 

 answers, in the Malayan jungle, marks their pleasurable emotions, 

 as, for instance, on the appearance of food, while the contrary is 

 expressed by shrill protracted cries. Their disposition is very rest- 

 less, and their great agihty enables them to perform the most extra- 

 ordinary bounds in all directions, in which exercise they spend the 



1 Zool. Jahrb., vol. 23, 1905, p. 84, pi. 1. 



' Joiirn. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. 15, 1846, p. 189. 



9 Zool. Res. West. Yunnan, 1S79, p, 120. 



< Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. 14, 1822, p. 471. 



6 Mammals of India, 18G7, p. C5. 



« In Tbomaa and Wrougliton, Journ. Fed. Malay States Mus., vol. 4, No. 1, December, 1909, p. 112. 



