FAMILY TUPAID.E. ANALOGIES TO RODENTIA. 201 



exhale a strong musky odour. The Gymnurus of Sumatra 

 appears to approach the Tenrecs and Hedgehogs in its dentition, 

 as well as in its spiny covering ; but it has the long scaly tail, 

 and pointed muzzle, of the Shrews. 



179. The last family, that of the TOPAID.E, or Banxrings, 

 includes a few remarkable species of animals, which principally 

 inhabit the larger islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Instead 

 of being strictly terrestrial in their habits, like the other Insect- 

 ivora, they lead the life of Squirrels ; and have all the spright- 

 liness and activity, together with much of the general appearance, 

 of those animals. They are covered with soft and glistening 

 hair, and have usually a long bushy tail, although in one curious 

 species, the Ptilocercus Lowii, a native of Sumatra, this organ is 

 naked and scaly, except at the extremity, where it bears a row 

 of long hairs on each side, which give it somewhat the appearance 

 of a feather. The skull differs from that of the other Insectivora 

 in having the orbits complete. The Tupaidae are diurnal in 

 their habits, and their food consists of fruit and insects, which they 

 hold between their fore paws in the manner of a Squirrel. 



180. We can scarcely take even a cursory view, like the 

 present, of the different forms contained in the order Insectivora, 

 without perceiving that it offers many striking analogies to the 

 Rodentia, far distant as that order undoubtedly is. The analogy 

 between the Shrews and the Mice, the Macroscelides and the 

 Jerboas and Gerbilles, the Hedgehogs and the Porcupines, and 



the Banxrings and the Squirrels, is very obvious ; and it may 

 not be altogether so far-fetched a comparison as it appears at first 

 sight, to compare the Mole and the Beaver, both being distin- 

 guished above all the rest of their respective orders for their 

 instinctive propensities, these propensities being directed towards 

 the construction of their habitations, and the whole conforma- 

 tion of each being modified in accordance with its particular 

 object ; the dwelling of the Mole being excavated beneath the 

 surface of the ground, and that of the Beaver being erected above 

 it. Altogether it may be affirmed that the Insectivora hold a 

 rank in the Carnivorous division of the Mammalia, analogous to 

 that which the Rodentia take in the Herbivorous. Both would 



