104 MamMALiA OF INDIA. 
like the wings of an arrow or the plumes of a feather. There is an 
excellent coloured picture of it in the ‘Proc. Zool. Society,’ vol. of 
Plates. 
I had almost concluded my sketch of the Insectivora without alluding 
to one most interesting genus, which ought properly to have come 
between the shrews and the hedgehogs, the Gymnura, which, though 
common in the Malay countries, has only recently been found in 
Burmah—a fact of which I was not aware till I saw it included in a 
paper on Tenasserim mammals by Mr. W. T. Blanford (‘ Jour. As. Soc. 
Beng.,’ 1878, page 150.) Before I referto his notes I may state that 
this animal is a sort of link between the Soricede and the Erinacede, 
and De Blainville proposed for it the generic name of LZchinosorex, but 
the one generally adopted is Gymnura, which was the specific name 
given to it by its discoverer, Sir Stamford Raffles, who described it as a 
Viverra (V. gymnura) ; however, Horsfield and Vigors and Lesson, the 
two former in England and the latter in France, saw that it was not a 
civet, and, taking the naked tail as a peculiarity, they called the genus 
Gymnura, and the specimen Raffesiz, There is not much on record 
regarding the anatomy of the animal, and in what respects it internaily 
resembles the hedgehogs. Outwardly it has the general soricine form, 
though much larger than the largest shrew. The long tail too is against 
its resemblance to the hedgehogs, which rests principally on its spiny 
pelage. 
The teeth in some degree resemble Zvinaceus, the molars and 
premolars especially, but the number in all is greater, there being forty- 
four, or eight more. It would be interesting to know whether the 
zygomatic arch is perfect and the tibia and fibula’ united, as in the 
hedgehogs, or wanting and distinct as in the shrews. I have given a 
slight sketch in outline of the animal. 
No. 162. GYMNURA RAFFLESII. 
The Bulau. 
Haseitat.—Tenasserim (Sumatra, Borneo) ; Malacca. 
DESCRIPTION.—Long tapering head, with elongated muzzle, short 
legs, shrew-like body, with a long, round, tapering and scaly rat-like 
tail, naked, with the exception of a few stiff hairs here and there among 
the scales, In each jaw on each side three incisors, one canine (those 
in the upper jaw double-fanged) and seven premolars and molars ; feet 
five-toed, plantigrade, armed with strong claws. Fur of two kinds, fine 
and soft, with longer and more spiny ones intermixed. The colour 
varies a good deal, the general tint being greyish-black, with head and 
neck pale or whitish, and with a broad black patch over the eye. Some 
