TEN 



211 



TEN 



It is in this genus that we first find the jugal bone want 

 ing among the Insectivora. 



Geographical Distribution and Habits of the Genus. 

 Cuvier remarks that three species are found in Madagascar 

 the first of which, the Tenrec, properly so called, Centetes 

 ecaudatus (Erinaceus ecai/clatus, Ginel.j is, he observes 

 naturalized at the Isle of France. 



Mr. Swainson (Classification of Quadrupeds) states thai 

 the second division of the family SORECID* is composed 

 of mole-like animals, apparently connected to the Shrews 

 by the American Scalops and the African Chrysochlorit, 

 and that it includes but three genera. [SORECID.E, vol. 

 xxii., p. 261.] Of the Tenrecs (or Tendrics as he writes 

 the word) he treats as animals peculiar to Madagascar, 

 apparently as capable of domestication as their European 

 congeners. 'Although inhabiting a warm region,' pro- 

 ceeds Mr. Swainson, ' they are said to pass the three 

 warmest months of the year in a state of torpidity : this, it 

 must be owned, is a singular circumstance, and is the only 

 one upon record of an animal hybernating, so to speak, in 

 the height of summer. In other respects they feed like 

 the European Hedgehog, and are nocturnal animals.' The 

 singularity of the circumstance vanishes when we find that 

 the period in which the- Tenrec becomes dormant is not 

 only the \Minu season, but the dry season, and the apparent 



-ily becomes another instance of the harmony of 

 adaptation which prevails throughout nature. A suspen- 



of the active powers of life becomes absolutely neces- 



lo insectivorous quadrupeds, because there must be 

 certain seasons when they would find no food. Our usual 

 term for the act of retiring, in order to give way to this 



nsion, is hybernation ; because, in our latitudes, this 

 abstraction of worms and insects takes place in winter, 

 when our Bats, Hedgehogs, and Shrews lay themselves up 

 till spring returns to call forth their prey. But in Mada- 

 gascar the dry season is that in which the absence of 

 worms and in>ects occurs; and then it is that the Tenrec 



into its half living and half dead state. 



Dental Formula: Incisors -; canines 



1-1 



molars 



G-J3 

 0-6 



: =40. 



Twlh of Tntec, ooe-lhud target than the natural me. (f. Cuv.) 



The situation assigned by Cuvier to the Tenrecs is be- 



tween the Hedgehogs (Erinaceus, Linn.) and Cladobates. 



[TUPAIA.J 



Cuvier remarks that the muzzle of the Tenrecs is very 

 pointed, and that their teeth are very different from those 

 of the Hedgehogs. 



Generic Character. Body spiny ; not capable of being 

 rolled up into a ball, as in the Hedgehogs ; muzzle elon- 

 gated ; five toes on each foot, separated and armed with 

 crooked claws. 



Examples. The species are called Tenrec and Tendrac ; 

 but the latter name is confusedly applied to at least two 

 species. 



Of the first, the Centetes ecaudatus, 111., is the largest, 

 exceeding our Hedgehog in size. It is covered above with 

 long flexible spines, except on the vertex and occiput, 

 and has no coloured bands : the under part of the body 

 is clothed with hairs or bristles only, which are yellowish, 

 mixed with some longer black ones. Baron Cuvier, who 

 is followed by Lesson, states, in his last edition of the 

 Regne Animal, that this species has only four incisors in 

 the lower jaw; but M. F. Cuvier, who makes the number 

 six in each jaw, says that his illustration is taken from 

 Cent, ecaudatits and Cent, setosus ; and Fischer gives the 

 same number. 



(Viit.-toa I'Candatus. 



Centetes sftosus, 111. -The Tendrac of Buffon and Zim- 

 merman is less than the former, and the spines are shor* 

 and rigid. 



'IViulrac. 



The Centetes semispinosus is still less, and hardly so 

 large as a common mole. Its body is clothed with a mix- 

 :ure of spines and bristles, and is banded longitudinally 

 with yellow and black. 



Striped Teurcc. 



2E2 



