212 



climbing on the tables and beds, and helping themselves to any 

 food they may fancy. Mason mentions one that acquired a taste 

 for tea and coffee. 



103. Tupaia nicobarica. The Nlcobar Tree-Shrew. 



Cladobates nicobaricus, Zelebor, Novara-Reise, Saugeth. p. 17, pis. i, 



ii (1808). 

 Tupaia nicobarica, Anderson, An. Zool. Res. p. 136 ; id. Cat. p. 157. 



Fur with some piles longer and coarser than the rest, and highly 

 lustrous. 



Skull more elongate than in T. ferruyinea, but not approaching 

 T. tana in this respect. Teeth large. 



Colour. Above brownish black on the greater part of the back and 

 tail ; the muzzle, a band from the back of the head to between the 

 shoulders, sides of the head and neck, and outside of limbs yellowish 

 golden brown. Lower parts pale brown ; lower surface of the 

 tail except towards the base scarcely paler than the upper. No 

 shoulder-stripe. The blackish hairs of the back and tail not 

 annulated ; on the brown portions the hair is indistinctly ringed 

 light and dark brown. 



Dimensions. Head and body 7'5 inches, tail with hair 10 ; weight 

 6 oz. In other specimens (males in alcohol) : head and body 7'1, 

 tail without hair 8, hind foot without claws T77. Skull of larger 

 male 2-2 long, 1-2 broad. 



Distribution. Nicobar Islands ; hitherto not found elsewhere. 

 The habits are not recorded. 



The largest species of the genus is T. tana, found in Borneo. 

 T.javanica is a small form that inhabits the Malay Peninsula, as 

 well as the islands, and there are a few other species known. 



Family ERINACEID^E. 



Insectivora with plantigrade feet provided with simple, not 

 fossorial claws, with well-developed radius and ulna, but having 

 the fibula anchylosed below to the tibia, with long slender clavicles 

 and a bifid acromion, with a narrow pubic symphysis, with slender 

 zygomatic arches in which the small malar bones (rarely absent) are 

 suspended, with well-developed pterygoid fossae, with a ridge and 

 process in front of the orbit, but without postorbital processes, 

 with separate nasals, and with a ring-shaped tympanic bone not 

 forming a bulla. The first and second upper molars with five 

 cusps ; the central cusp minute, united by a ridge on each side to 

 the bases of the two internal cusps. The form of these teeth is 

 very characteristic of the family. (Dobson.) No caecum. 



This family contains two genera only, differing remarkably in 

 external form, each forming a distinct subfamily, and both occurring 



