THE TANRECS. 



121 



no way different from the following premolars. 

 Some species are all prickly like our hedge- 

 hogs, others haveonly scattered spines mingled 

 with coarse hair, and others again have a 

 very soft fur without any trace of spines. 

 The snout is always much more pointed than 

 in our hedgehogs, and the tail is usually 

 wanting or is represented only by a short 

 stump. All the species are capable of rolling 



themselves up like a ball, but this power is 

 much less developed in those forms which 

 have a slender body and a semi-spinous coat, 

 than in those which are better protected by 

 their spines. 



Have the tanrecs been introduced by man 

 into the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon? 

 So it is said; but that is not quite certain. 

 In any case they are now completely natural- 



Fig. 52. — The Tanrec (Centetes ecaudatus). 



ized in both, and live there in the same way 

 as on the great African island, that is to say, 

 squeezing themselves by day into some hole 

 or corner, and by night hunting after their 

 food, which consists mainly of insects, spiders, 

 millipedes, and the like, to which, however, 

 they are fond of adding small vertebrates or 

 fruits. The natives eat them, but prefer the 

 females, since the males diffuse a strong musky 

 odour which taints their flesh. Some authors 

 maintain that they have a summer-sleep, like 

 the winter-sleep of our hedgehogs, but by 

 others this is denied. Of the genus Gymnura 

 we are acquainted with only one species {G. 

 Rafflesii), which is a native of Sumatra, and 

 is characterized by the absence of spines, the 

 great length of the body, the almost naked 

 tail, and the large number of its teeth (44 

 in all). 



The Hedgehogs {Erinacet). 



A group composed of the completely spiny inhabitants of 

 the continents of the Old World. 



Except for the abnormal genus Gymnura 

 the hedgehogs form a tolerably uniform group, 

 with sufficiently well-marked characters, and 

 found only on the mainland. 



In the hedgehogs proper the head is short, 

 the snout pointed, but not elongated, the 

 body compact, and covered on the whole of 

 the upper surface with short, thick, pointed 

 spines, which the animal can erect in rolling 

 itself into a ball; the five-toed paws with 

 short claws are not very long ; the tail is 

 short or absent. 



The dentition appears to indicate a mixed 

 diet. There are no prominent canines; on the 

 crowns of the molars there are conical cusps 



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