318 THE INSECTIVORES 







texture and coloring of its fur, but the muzzle is similarly elongated, and there is 

 even the pale shoulder streak usual in the genus Tupaia. ' ' 



In addition to the ordinary genera, the only other living member of 

 ^ a L^ the family is the pen-tailed tree-shrew {Ptilocercus lowi)> which dif- 

 fers so remarkably in the structure of its tail as to form the solitary 

 representative of a distinct genus. This little animal is between five and six inches 

 in length, exclusive of the tail, which is of great length, and characterized by its 

 upper two- thirds being naked, and the lower third ornamented with a double fringe 

 of long hairs, arranged like the barbs of a feather. The general color of the fur is 

 blackish brown above, with the cheeks and lower parts yellowish, and a dark streak 

 running backwards from the muzzle to encircle the eye ; while the tail is black, 

 with most of the long hairs of the "pen" white. The first specimen known was 

 captured by Mr. Low in the house of Sir James Brooke, at Sarawak ; and the 

 species was considered to be confined to that island. Of late it has, however, been 

 discovered in some of the small islands in the neighborhood of Borneo. 



As is the case with many of the Mammals of the Oriental region, 



Sh the tree-shrews were represented in Europe during the middle of the 



Tertiary period by certain extinct genera. One of these (Lanthano- 



therium) appears to have been very nearly related to the living tree-shrews, while 



the other ( Galerix or Parasorex) presents characteristics that connect it both with 



the tree-shrews and the jumping shrews. 



THE JUMPING SHREWS 

 Family MACROSCELIDID^ 



As the tree-shrews simulate the squirrels in the Rodent order, so the jumping 

 shrews approximate in form to the gerboas and gerbils. But while the resemblance 

 in the former instance is a case of true mimicry, in the other it appears to be merely 

 due to adaptation for a similar mode of life. 



The jumping shrews, or, as they are sometimes called, in allusion to their pro- 

 longed snouts, elephant-shrews, are the African representatives of the tree-shrews, 

 with which they agree in many points of their structure, although not in habits. 

 They are exclusively confined to Africa ; and while agreeing with the members of 

 the preceding family in the relatively large size of their brains, as well as in certain 

 other features of their internal anatomy, they are distinguished by structural differ- 

 ences entitling them to be regarded as the representatives of a separate family. 

 Among these differences we may refer to the circumstance that the socket of the 

 eye is not surrounded by a bony ring, but is open behind. Then, again, the meta- 

 tarsus, or that portion of the foot immediately below the ankle joint, instead of 

 being of the normal proportions, is greatly elongated, so as to make the whole foot 

 nearly as long as the lower leg. Further, instead of pursuing an arboreal and diur- 

 nal life, like the tree-shrews, the jumping shrews restrict themselves to the ground, 

 upon which they progress by leaps, and are mainly or entirely nocturnal. 



