GYMNURAS. 



321 



while in all the others the fur is softer and finer, and the upper canine tooth 

 has two roots, and closely resembles the cheek-teeth. 



Hedgehogs are represented by five distinct species in India, all characterised 

 by having minute tubercles on the ridges of their spines. It is remarkable that 

 while one of these hedgehogs (E. micropus) is found in Madras, no repre- 

 sentative of the genus is recorded from the Central Provinces and Bengal, the 

 other species not occurring till we reach the North- West Provinces, the Punjab, etc. 

 But little is known of the habits of these Indian species, and nothing as to their 

 breeding ; although it is probable that in both these respects they conform closely 

 to their European cousin. The long -eared Afghan hedgehog (E. megalotis), 

 common in the neighbourhood of Kandahar and Quetta, hibernates, but the 

 species from the Punjab and Southern India are active at all seasons of the 

 year, thus showing how absolutely dependent is the habit of hibernation upon 

 climate. The collared hedgehog (E. collaris), found in the plains of North- West.ern 

 India, inhabits " sandy country, hiding in holes beneath thorny bushes or in tufts 

 of grass during the day, feeding chiefly on insects, especially a species of Blaps, and 

 also on lizards and snails. It makes a grunting noise when irritated, and when 

 touched suddenly jerks up its back so as to throw its spines forward, making at 

 the same time a sound like a puff from a pair of bellows." Mr. Blanford just 

 quoted, also states that the Afghan hedgehog feeds on the slugs and snails so 

 common in the fields round Kandahar, as well as worms, insects, and lizards. It 

 hides during the day in holes ; and hibernates from the end of October or beginning 

 of November till February. 



If we know but little of the habits of the Asiatic hedgehogs, this 

 ' lack of information is still more marked with respect to those of 

 Africa, where some species are found in the Cape district, and others in the regions 

 to the north of the Sahara (E. algirus), and in Egypt, as well as on the West Coast. 

 One of these (E. albiventris) is peculiar in having lost the inner toe of the hind 

 foot ; although its claw has been found on one foot of an adult female from Lagos, 

 as well as on both feet of young specimens from the same locality. 



Fossil hedgehogs are met with in the Tertiary rocks of Europe 

 as far back as the early portion of the Miocene period. Some of the 

 extinct hedgehogs belonged to the existing genus Erinaceus ; and one of them 

 (E. ceningensis), from the middle Tertiary fresh-water limestones of Baden, 

 appears to be allied to the Algerian hedgehog, being totally different in the 

 structure of its teeth from the common European species. Others are, however, 

 distinguished by having a complete bony roof to the palate, and these form a 

 distinct genus, which may be allied in this respect to the gymnuras. 



THE GYMNURAS. 

 Genus Gymnura. 



The gymnuras, which are not unlike large rough-haired shrews, take the place 

 of the hedgehogs in Burma and the Malayan region. Although closely allied to 

 the hedgehogs in the structure of their teeth and other details of their anatomy, 



VOL. i. 21 



