28 NATURAL SCIENCE. j AN ., 



Malays, which is a hard green globose fruit containing a round woody 

 seed as big as a marble. This the small fruit-bats flying in under 

 the roof brought in and nibbled as they hung suspended from the roof 

 poles, dropping the seeds with a sounding noise on the wooden floor. 



The large owl (Ketupa javanensis) catches these little bats. I have 

 seen one swoop by me in the gardens in the evening, bearing in its 

 claws its prey, which emitted the piercing shrieks of this bat. 



The houses in Singapore being very open, bats often fly in at 

 night, the commonest being the little fruit-bat (Cynoptems mavginatus). 

 The fruit bats, being clumsy and stupid, have much difficulty in 

 finding their way out again, and are easily caught ; but the insec- 

 tivorous bats are much more clever, and fly in and out with ease. 



The insectivorous bats, " Kelawang," are more difficult to catch 

 and to observe than the fruit-bats. They seem to live in ones and 

 twos, and not in numbers together as the latter do. The Horse- 

 shoe bats (Rhinolophidae) usually live in the jungles, suspended to 

 boughs of shrubs all day. I observed one in the Gardens at 

 dusk which darted from its perch on a twig in pursuit of insects, 

 returning again and again to the same twig, where suspended it spun 

 round and swung about till it darted off again. Even when alarmed 

 it only left the twig for a few minutes and returned again. The 

 curious hairless bat (Chivomclcs tovquatus) is not a rare species. When 

 it comes into the house at night, unlike most insectivorous bats, it is 

 confused by the light, and is easily caught. 



Insectivora : — The commonest insectivora are the Tupaia (T. 

 fevvuginca) and the Musk-Shrew (Crocidnm murina). 



The name Tupaia really signifies a squirrel; and this insectivore 

 so closely resembles one in form and habits that it is considered as 

 one by the Malays. The common species is very destructive in 

 gardens, as it is almost if not entirely frugivorous. It bites holes in 

 the chocolate pods to eat the pith which encloses the seeds, strewing 

 the latter all over the ground, and even digs up the seeds planted in 

 flower boxes. It varies much in colour at different times of the year, 

 but is usually of a dark brown, and then so closely resembles the 

 common squirrel that, except for the longer snout, it is difficult to 

 distinguish it when running about. If this resemblance is to be 

 reckoned an example of mimicry, it is not easy to decide whether it is 

 the Tupaia which mimics the squirrel or the squirrel the Tupaia. 

 Possibly the resemblance is accidental, both animals having taken on 

 the most inconspicuous colouring and the most suitable form for their 

 environment. The curious long-nosed squirrel, Sciuvus (Rhinosciurits) 

 laiicaudatus, which so closely resembles a Tupaia that to distinguish 

 it one has to look at the teeth, lives apparently almost entifely on the 

 ground, darting about among the fallen logs, as some Tupaias always 

 do ; and this animal seems really to be adapted for the mimicry of a 

 Tupaia. Tupaia fevvuginea is more terrestrial in its habits than a 

 squirrel. - When alarmed it darts up a tree, but never very high, and 



