212 Zoological Society. 



ably agile, keeping its long bushy tail somewhat erect in running 

 about, and uttering a sort of chirp not unlike a rat. Its chief food 

 was uncooked meat, but it preferred raw eggs above all other articles 

 when they could be procured. Its method of breaking them was not 

 a little amusing : on receiving one it would roll it towards a project- 

 ing timber or gun-slide ; then, lying down on its side, the little 

 creature would grasp the egg with all its feet and throw it by a 

 sudden jerk, repeating the attempt until the contents were obtained. 

 Turtles' eggs being so soft and rich w^ere always eagerly sought by 

 it. It was very irascible while feeding, and would attack those who 

 interfered with it at such a time, although at others it delighted in 

 being fondled, and would play like a kitten with those it knew. The 

 habits of this interesting animal were not nocturnal. It died from 

 convulsions, under which it had suffered for five weeks. 



Its mode of breaking the e.gg is somewhat different from that of 

 Herpestes fasciatus, which Dr. Thomson had also xinder observation 

 for some time. This latter, after getting the egg close to a projecting 

 object, seizes it with the two anterior feet, and then jerks it through 

 between the hinder legs, which are raised somewhat to let the egg 

 pass. 



2. Description of a new genus of Insectivorous Mammalia, 

 OR Talpid^, from Borneo. By John Edward Gray, Esq., 



F.R.S. ETC. 



Mr. Low brought with him from Borneo some mammalia and 

 reptiles in spirits ; amongst them, he informed me, was " a rat-like 

 animal with a pennated tail, which he caught in the Rajah's house at 

 Sarawak." On examining the collection, I was much pleased at 

 discovering in the animal so characteristically described, a new genus 

 of Insectivora, nearly related to Tupaia, but differing from it both in 

 the conformation of its tail and the form of the skull, and adding 

 another genus to the subfamily of Tnpaina, the geographic range of 

 which appears to be confined to the Asiatic islands. Borneo may be 

 regarded their more proper home, as possessing all the genera, viz, 

 Tupaia, Hylomys, and the one under consideration, which, from the 

 form of its tail, may be called Ptilocercus. 



The true Tupaia have a broad hairy tail like the squirrels ; the 

 Hylomys have a very short, slender, cylindrical tail, covered with 

 short close adpressed hair ; and the Ptilocercus, on the other hand, 

 have an elongated cylindrical tail, covered with rings of square broad 

 scales like the long-tailed rats, but the end of the tail is furnished 

 with a series of rigid hairs on each side, like the barb of an arrow. 

 I may remark, that besides the genera here noticed, the Dutch 

 naturalists have described an animal under the name of Hylogale 

 murina, * Verhand. Mamra.' t. 26, f. 3, t. 27, f. 17-18, also from 

 Borneo, which differs from the Tupaia (or Hylogale) in having a 

 cylindrical tail covered with short hair, but furnished with a pencil 

 of longer hair of the tip, which I propose to separate from the other 

 under the name of Dendrogale. Each of these genera have a pecu- 

 liar livery : the Tupaia are grisled yellow and brown, with a yellow 



