74 MAMMALIA. 



ball : there is no tail ; the muzzle is very pointed, and the teeth are very 

 different. There are four or six incisors, and two great canines in each 

 jaw. Behind the canines are one or two small teeth, and four triangular 

 and bristled molars. Three species are found in Madagascar, the first of 

 which has been naturalized in the Isle of France. It is a nocturnal ani- 

 mal, which passes three months of the year in a state of lethargy, although 

 inhabiting the torrid zone. Brugiere even assures us that it is during the 

 greatest heats that they sleep. 



Erinaceus ecaudatus, L. ; Buff. XII. Ivi. (The Tenrec). Co- 

 vered with stiff spines ; only four notched incisors below. It is the 

 largest of the three, and exceeds the common hedgehog in size. 



Erinaceus setosus, L. ; Buff. XII. Ivii. (The Tendrac). The 

 spines more flexible and setaceous ; six notched incisors in each jaw. 

 Erinaceus semi-spinosus. (The radiated Tenrec). Covered with 

 bristles and prickles blended; striped with yellow and black; its six 

 incisors and canines are all slender and hooked : size hardly that of 

 a mole*. 



Cladobates, Fr. Ciw.—Tuy.mk, Raff. 



These compose a genus newly established from the Indian Archipelago. 

 Their teeth would greatly resemble those of the hedgehog, were it not that 

 their middle upper incisors are shorter in proportion, that they have four 

 elongated ones in the lower jaw, and that they want the tubercular behind. 

 The animal is covered with hair, has a long shaggy tail, and, contrary to 

 the habits of other insectivora, climbs trees with the agility of a squirrel ; 

 the pointed muzzle, however, makes the animal easily distinguishable even 

 at a distance-}-. 



SoREX, Linn. 



The shrews are generally small, and covered with hair. Under this, 

 and upon each flank, there is a small band of stiff, thickly set set*, from 

 between which, in the rutting season, oozes an odorous humour, the pro- 

 duct of a peculiar gland;]; (a). The two middle upper incisors are hooked 



* Buff. Suppl. III. pi. 37, has mistaken it for a young Tenrec. Voy. a la Chine, II, 

 p. 146, gives a bad description of the teeth. 



\ The banxring ; Cladob.javanicn, Fr. Cuv.; Tupaiajavanica, Horsf. Jav. ; — CI. tana, 

 Fr. Cuv.; Tup. tana, Yiorsi.\ — Clad, ferniginea, Ft. Cuv.; Tup. ferruginea, Raff. The 

 genus Gymnura of Vigors and Horsfield — Zoolog. Journ. III. pi. 8, appears to ap- 

 proximate to Cladobates by the teeth, and to the Shrew by its pointed snout and scaly 

 tail. There are five unguiculated toes to each foot, and tolerably stiff setas growing 

 among woolly hairs. It can only be properly classed when its anatomy is known. 



X See Geoff. Mem. du Mus. vol. I, p. 299. 



^" (a) On each side of the body of this animal there are two sets of glands, one 

 set being destined to secrete milk, whilst the other is intended for very different pur- 

 poses. In the early life of the Shrew, this latter apparatus appears to be merely a 

 longitudinal projection, having no marked characters; but, when the period arrives 

 which exposes the animal to sexual excitement, the projection becomes considerably 

 enlarged, and dotted with innumerable caeca (or minutebladders), which are attached 

 to the body of the gland, and resemble a series of bristles in a brush. The caeca 

 open on the projection of the gland, which has only one duct towards the external 

 surface, and from this the mucus is secreted, whose powerful odour performs so re- 

 markable an agency in the bringing of the male and female together. — Eng. Ed. 



