126 



THE INSECT-EATERS. 



is pyramidal in shape and sharp, and takes 

 the place of a true canine, which is wanting. 



The fur, which is soft and velvety like 

 that of all burrowers, presents in the reflex 

 shimmer of rainbow colours an appearance 

 which we are not accustomed to see in mam- 

 mals. The golden moles have pretty much 

 the same habits as the true moles. Little 



Fig. 56. The Cape Golden Mole (Chrysochloris cafeasis/. 



further, however, is known about them. Fig. 

 56 shows a drawing of the commonest species. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND 

 DESCENT OF THE INSECT-EATERS. 



This subject presents several points of in- 

 terest. What first strikes one is the fact that 

 the group is altogether unrepresented on the 

 mainland of South America, as well as in 

 Australia and the Australasian islands gener- 

 ally. 



This absence of the Insectivora in the two 

 large areas just mentioned can be ascribed 



neither to the climate nor to the want of 

 suitable food. We find Insectivora in the 

 warmest districts of the earth, and there is 

 probably no other part of the world so rich 

 in insects as South America. The cause of 

 this remarkable deficiency in these regions 

 must accordingly be sought for in the origin 

 of the Insectivora, of which we shall speak 

 later on. 



The deficiency is all the more striking 

 since Cuba and Hayti, these two large islands 

 of the Antilles which lie under the tropics, 

 are inhabited by the peculiar genus Solenodon, 

 which, as we have seen, is sufficiently special- 

 ized to form the type of a separate family. 

 There are likewise other examples of similarly 

 restricted distribution. 



The island of Madagascar has its peculiar 

 insectivores. The tanrecs are found only 

 there and on the neighbouring islands of 

 Mauritius and Bourbon, which perhaps were 

 formerly connected by land with the larger 

 island. The genus Eupleres, so remarkable 

 on account of its affinity to the Viverrida, 

 has been found solely in Madagascar. This 

 island thus forms, as regards the Insectivora, 

 a quite isolated zoological province, which 

 seems to have no relation either to the 

 African mainland or to any other part of the 

 world. 



The mainland of Africa possesses as peculiar 

 types the jumpers in the deserts of the North 

 and South, the golden moles, which at the 

 Cape take the place of the true moles, and 

 an inhabitant of the water, Potamogale, which 

 has been discovered in the Gaboon and in 

 Angola, a creature which leads a life like that 

 of a fish-otter, feeding chiefly on fish and 

 crustaceans, and which must be taken as 

 forming the type of a separate family. 



The East Indies, including the Sunda 

 Islands, possess exclusively the climbing 

 tupaias, as well as the genus Gymnura, a 

 genus considerably different from the true 

 hedgehogs, with which it is perhaps im- 

 properly associated. 



