512 



CENTETES AND ITS ALLIES 



annoyed. The Tanrec feeds mainly upon earthworms. It is 

 " probably the most prolific of all animals," since as many as 

 twenty-one young are said to have been brought forth at a birth. 

 Some Opossums, however, have twenty-five teats. 



Hemic entetes'^ is a genus with two species. These have spines 

 mixed with the fur of tlie back. There is no caecum in this or 



Fig. 248. — Skull of Tenrec. Ventetes eaiihhitiir<. //•, Frontal: ///c,'-, maxilla ; ^^a, 

 parietal ; i).mn:i\ [iremaxilla ; sq^ squamosal. (After Dolison.) 



in other Centetidae. The teeth are forty in number, there being 

 only three molars. 



Ericulus setosus is a small Insectivore, resem1)ling externally 

 a small Hedgehog. It is covered with close-set spines which, 

 unlike what is found in Erinaceus, extend over the short tail. 

 The total number of teeth is thirty -six, the formula being 

 I f C i Pm f M f 



Ecliincyps^ is anotlier spiny genus which is a stage in advance 

 of Ericulus, for still another molar has been lost, reducing the 

 total number of teeth to tliirty-two. The dental formula is thus 

 1 1- C ^ Pm ^ M -|. The zygomata are reduced to mere threads. 



Microgale, a genus recently instituted liy Mr. Thomas, is a 

 small furry Insectivore with a long tail, which is more than 

 double the length of the head and Ijody. There are no less than 

 forty-seven vertebrae in the tail, wdiich is relatively longer than 

 that of any other mammal. 



LimnogaJe, discovered liy Forsyth Major, is an aquatic genus, 

 also furry and not spiny, which has departed from the Cente- 

 tid type and taken to an aquatic life. The single species, 



1 Mivart in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 58. 

 - Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1892, p. 500. 



