JUMPING SHREWS. 315 



fringe of long hairs, arranged like the barbs of a feather. The general colour of 

 tlie fur is blackish-bi-own above, with the cheeks and lower-parts yellowish, and a 

 dark streak running backwards from the muzzle to encircle the eye ; while the 

 tail is black, with most of the long hairs of the " pen " white. The fii-st specimen 

 kno-SATi was captured by Mr. Low in the house of Sir James Brooke, at Sarawak ; 

 and the species was considered to be confined to that island. Of late it has, 

 however, been discovered in some of the small islands in the neighbourhood of 

 Borneo. 



FossU Tree- As is the case with jnany of the Mammals of the Oriental region, 



Shrews. t]jg ti'ee-shrews wei-e i-epresented in Europe during the middle of 

 the Tertiary period by certain extinct genera. One of these (Lanthanotheruirri) 

 appears to have been very nearly related to tlie living tree-shrews, while the other 

 {Gale fix or I'arasore.c) presents characters that connect it both with the tree-shrews 

 and the jumping shrews. 



The Jcmpixg Shrews. 

 Family Macroscelwid^. 



As the tree-shrews simulate the squirrels in the Rodent order, so the jumping 

 shrews approximate in form to the gerboas and gerbils. But while the resem- 

 blance in the former instance is a case of true mimicry, in the other it appeai-s 

 to be merely due to adaptation for a similar mode of life. 



The jumping shrews, or, as they are sometimes called, in allusion to their pro- 

 longed snouts, elephant-shrews, are the African representatives of the tree-shrews, 

 with which they agree in man}' points of their structure, although not in habits. 

 They are exclusively confined to Africa ; and while agreeing with the members of 

 the preceding family in the relativelj' large size of their brains, as well as in certain 

 other features of their internal anatomy, they are distinguished by structural 

 diflferences entitling them to be regarded avS the representatives of a separate 

 family. Among these differences we may i-efer to the circumstance that the 

 socket of the eye is not surrounded by a bony ring, but is open behind. Then, 

 again, the metatarsus, or that portion of the foot immediately below the ankle- 

 joint, instead of being of the normal proportions, is greatly elongated, so as to make 

 the whole foot nearly as long as the lower leg. Further, instead of pursuing an 

 arboreal and diurnal life, like the tree-shrews, the jumping shrews restrict them- 

 selves to the ground, upon which they progi-ess by leaps, and are mainly or entirely 

 nocturnal. 



The tvpical lumping shrews, constituting the genus Macroscelides, 

 Typical Forms. » i j 1 o ' . 



of which a species (M. typicus) is represented in the illustration on 



the following page, are characterised by the number of their teeth and toes. With 



one exception, these animals have 42 teeth, of which ^ are incisors, \ canines, and 



^ cheek-teeth on either side of the jaws. Invariably they possess five toes on the 



fore-feet ; while, with the single exception above mentioned, where there are but 



four, the same number obtains in the hind-foot. Their ears are large, and the tail 



naked and rat-like. 



