TENRECS. 



541 



covered with a mixture of flexible spines, bristles, and hairs : but whereas in the 

 young the former are arranged in longitudinal lines down the back, in the fully 

 adult state they ai-e restricted to a kind of collar round the upjDer side of the neck. 

 Both spines, bristles, and hair are yellowish or whitish towards the tips, and 

 brown near the middle, so that the general colour of the head and body is a kind 

 of yellowish-brown. When fully adult, the tenrec has 40 teeth, of which on each 

 side § are incisors, \ canines, and ^ cheek-teeth. The tusks, or canines, of the 

 males are very long and shai-p, and would be capable of inflicting a severe wound. 

 The most remarkable peculiarity connected with the dentition relates, however, to 

 the upper cheek-teeth, and has only quite recently been discovered by Mr. O. 

 Thomas. Thus in a middle-aged tenrec it will be found that there are six cheek- 



-i r.^.^^-^'V^ 



THE TENKEC (J uat. size). 



teeth behind the canine on each side of both jaws ; thi-ee of these belonging to 

 the premolars, or those preceded by milk-teeth, and three to the molar series, 

 which have no such predecessors. Very late in life, however, a small fourth molar 

 appeai-s in the upper jaw behind the other tlu-ee. Considering that no other 

 Mammals witli teeth divided into distinct series, have four upper molars as a 

 noi-mal condition, except Marsupials, and one peculiar kind of dog, this is a verj- 

 remarkable circumstance. Taken, indeed, in conjunction with the fact that both 

 the tenrec and the carnivorous Marsupials have tritubercular molar teeth, while 

 the skulls of both have certain very remarkable resemblances, this feature in the 

 dentition renders it prettj^ certain that of all living Mammals the tenrec is the 

 one which is most nearly related to the Marsupials of Australia and America. 

 Further collateral evidence of this relationship is, perhaps, aflbrded by the circum- 

 stance that the tenrec produces a large number of young at a birth ; although in 

 this respect it even exceeds the Marsupials, an instance being recorded when as 



