Ph Oe 
OLF ALA < 
ELEPHANT SHREW.—Maeroscélides Proboscideus. 
THE elongation of the nose, which has already been noticed in the Tupaias of Sumatra, 
seems to have reached its utmost limit in those curious inhabitants of the Cape that are 
called, from their elephantine elongation of nose, the ELEPHANT SHREWS. Several species 
of Elephant Shrews are known to exist, all of which, with one exception, are inhabitants 
of Southern Africa. The solitary exception, Macroscelides Roretti, is found in Algeria. 
The peculiarly long nose of the Elephant Shrew is perforated at its extremity by the 
nostrils, which are rather obliquely placed, and is supposed to aid the animal in its search 
after the insects and other creatures on which it feeds. The eyes are rather large in 
proportion to the size of the animal. 
The tail is long and slender, much resembling the same organ in the common mouse, 
and in some specimens, probably males, is furnished at the base with glandular follicles, 
or little sacs. The legs are nearly of equal size, but the hinder limbs are much longer 
than the fore-legs, on account of the very great length of the feet, which:are capable of 
affording support to the creature as it sits in an upright position. As might be presumed 
from the great length of the hinder limbs, the Elephant Shrew is possessed of great 
locomotive powers, and when alarmed, can skim over the ground with such celerity 
that its form becomes quite obscured by the rapidity of its movement through the air. 
Its food consists of insects, which it captures in open day. 
Although the Elephant Shrew is a diurnal animal, seeking its prey in broad daylight, 
its habitation is made below the surface of the ground, and consists of a deep and tortuous 
burrow, the entrance to which is a perpendicularly-sunk shaft of some little depth. To 
this place of refuge the creature always flies when alarmed, and as it is so exceedingly 
swift in its movements, it is not readily captured or intercepted. 
The colour of the fur is a dark and rather cloudy brown, which is warmed with a 
reddish tinge upon the sides and flanks, and fades on the abdomen and inner portions 
of the limbs into a greyish-white. The generic name, Macroscelides, is of Greek origin, 
in allusion to the great length of its hinder limbs, and signifies “long-legged.” It is 
but a small animal, as the length of the head and body is not quite four inches in 
measurement, and the tail is about three inches and a quarter. 
SE — <= 
——— 
