VIII.] 



INSECTIVORA. 



2/1 



those of the Malayan sub-region, the absence of Tupaia from 

 Ceylon probably indicating that the genus is essentially a Malayan 

 one which has immigrated but recently into India. The hedgehog 

 family (JErwaceidce), which, as already shown is an ancient one, 

 has a very remarkable distribution in the Oriental region ; true 

 hedgehogs (Erinaceus] ranging into India, but apparently not oc- 

 curring in Ceylon, and being unknown to the west of the Bay of 

 Bengal. In the latter districts their place is taken by the spineless 

 and more rat-like animals forming the genus Gymnura and the 



FIG. 61. TREE-SHREW {Tupaia tana). 



allied Hylomys ; and here, again, we have to note the occurrence 

 of an allied type in the European Oligocene, which has been 

 described under the name of Necrogymnurus. In passing, it may 

 be remarked that the survival of these early Tertiary insectivorous 

 types in the Malayan sub-region serves to lend support to the 

 suggestion made in a previous chapter 1 that opossums may also 

 have survived in the same area long after they had ceased to exist 

 in western Europe. 



Passing over the moles (Talpida), of which the typical genus 

 Talpa only just impinges on the region in the frontiers of India> 



1 Supra, pp. 51, 57- 



