TUPAIA PEGU ANA. 65 



88. Tupaia peguana. 



Lesson, Belanger, Voyage. — T. Belangeri, Wagner. — T.ferruginea, 

 var. Blyth, Cat. 240. — Kalli tang-zhing. — Lepch. 



The Sikim Tree-shrew. 



Descr. — General hue a dusky greenish-brown, the hairs being ringed 

 brown and yellow; lower parts the same but lighter, and with a pale 

 buff line ; a stripe from the throat to the vent, broadest between the 

 forearms, and then narrowing ; ears livid red, with a few short hairs ; 

 palms and soles dark livid red ; nails fleshy. 



Length of one, head and body not quite 7 inches; tail 6| ; the hair 

 one inch more; head to occipital ridge 2\; ear fths ; foot 1|^ ; hand 

 about 1. Another measured, head and body 7^^ inches, tail 7^. 



The Burmese Tupaia was considered by Lesson and others sufficiently 

 distinct from the ^Idlsijan. ferruginea, of which Blyth, in his Catalogue, 

 considers it to be only a variety. My specimens differ somewhat from 

 those from Arrakan, in having the lower parts much darker, and with 

 the pale central line narrower; in the Burmese examples the whole chin, 

 thi'oat, and bi-east being buff. I obtained this tree-shrew at Darjeeling, 

 being one of the very few novelties that had escaped the notice of Mi\ 

 Hodgson. It frequents the zone from 3,000 to 6,000 feet, and was said by 

 the natives to kill small birds, mice, &c. In its colours as well as in size 

 and general appearance, it wonderfully resembles Sciurus lokriah; and I 

 see in a note on these animals in the English edition of Cuvier, edited by 

 Blyth, the statement that, " it is remarkable that the squirrels of the 

 same region have very similar fur, both in colour and texture." 



As a sequel to the history of these animals, I may transcribe part of 

 Cantor's account of the common Malayan species, T.ferruginea. " The 

 natural food is mixed insectivoi'ous and frugivorous. In confinement in- 

 dividuals may be fed exclusively on either, though preference is evinced 

 for insects ; and eggs, fish, and earth-worms are equally relished. Their 

 disposition is very restless, and their gi'eat agility enables them to perform 

 the most extraordinary boimds in all directions, in which exercise they 

 spend the day, till night sends them to sleep in their rudely constructed 

 lairs in the highest bi'anches of trees. .... The lateral 

 raised lines of the palms and soles, the posterior pai*t of the first phalanges, 

 and the third phalanx, which is widened into a small soft disk, in fact all 



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