IXSECTIVOHA.- 



-MAMMALIA.- 



-Talpid.e. 



59 



suspended after death. It is necessary, therefore, to 

 oblige them to take wing by alarming them, if it be 

 desired to obtain them during tlie day. Soon after 

 sunset they gradually quit their hold, and pursue their 

 nocturnal flight in quest of food. They direct their 

 course by an unerring instinct to the forests, villages, 

 and plantations, occasioning incalculable mischief, 

 attacking and devouring indiscriminately every kind of 

 fruit, from the abundant and useful cocoa-nut which 

 surrounds the dwelling of the meanest peasantry, to the 

 rare and most delicate productions which are cultivated 

 with care by princes and chiefs of distinction. By the 

 latter, as well as by the European colonists, various 

 methods are employed to protect the orchards and 

 gardens. Delicate fruits, such as mangoes, jambus, 

 lansas, et cetera, as they approach to maturity, are 

 ingeniously secured by means of a loose net or basket, 

 skilfully constructed of split bamboo. Without this 

 precaution little valuable fruit would escape the 

 ravages of the kalong. There are few situations in 

 the lower parts of Java in which this night wanderer 

 is not constantly observed ; as soon as the light of the 

 sun has retired, one animal is seen to follow the other 



at a small but irregular distance, and this succession 

 continues uninterruptedly till darkness obstructs the 

 view. The flight of the kalong is slow and steady, 

 pursued in a straight line, and capable of long con- 

 tinuance. The chase of the kalong forms occasionally 

 an amusement of the colonists and inhabitants during 

 the moonlight nights, which in the latitude of Java are 

 uncommonly serene. He is watched in his descent to 

 the fruit trees, and a discharge of small shot readily 

 brings him to the ground. By this means I frequently 

 obtained four or five individuals in the course of an 

 hour." Several other species of this remarkable 

 genus are known, and in the year 1855 we had an 

 opportunity of watching the behaviour of a specimen 

 of Pteropus edulis in the collection of the Zoological 

 Society, Regent's Park. Notwithstanding, however, 

 the great care taken to keep it alive by the necessary 

 degree of artificial heat, our treacherous climate proved 

 too much for it. Still more recently the society pro- 

 cured a living example of an allied species, namely, the 

 Shoulder-knot Bat [Epomorphorus Whilii) from West 

 Africa ; but this has likewise perished. These bats 

 fed principally upon raisins. 



Okder IV.— INSECTIVOEA. 



SETTiNa aside for a moment the remarkable devia- 

 tions of structure witnessed in the formation of the 

 wings and nasal appendages in the preceding order, 

 we appear to pass by a very natural transition to the 

 insectivorous mammalia, properly so called, at least, 

 when departing from the insect-feeding series of the 

 bat family. Baron Cuvier, be it observed, placed the 

 Cheiroptera at the head of his third great order of 

 unguiculated quadrupeds, collectively termed Carnas- 

 siers ; regarding the few frugivorous bats then known 

 as aberrant departures from the real carnivorous type. 

 As, however, the principal point of similarity connected 

 with these groups consists in the cutting character of 

 the grinding teeth, it will be understood that many 

 other structural considerations, of equal importance in 

 the eyes of naturalists, have determined the propriety 

 of treating certain insectivorous mammals under a 

 separate order. Professor Owen, as we have seen, 

 even places both the Cheiroptera and Inseotivora in his 

 lissenoephalous subclass — an arrangement which, based 

 on cerebral characters, separates these orders still 

 further from the true caruivora, and brings them nearer 

 the rodentia. The insect-eating bats also resemble the 

 order at present wider consideration, by their conical 

 elevations on the molar teeth, while ntany of the 

 inseotivora likewise hybernate, passing the winter in a 

 torpid state. A common character, prevailing more or 

 less throughout the entire order, is noticed in the 

 remarkable uniformity pervading the whole dental 

 series, rendering it at first sight somewhat puzzling to 

 recognize and separate the teeth into their ordinary 

 triad divisions — incisives, canines, and molars. In 

 the more typical forms the canines assume their ordi- 

 nary conspicuity, being also widely separated from each 

 other, whUe the incisives are correspondingly small 



In some members the dental characters approximate 

 towards the Rodentia by the elongated form of the 

 anterior incisors, the remaining cutting teeth, together 

 with the canines, being even shorter than the molars. 

 Certain of the Quadinmana also have a dentition very 

 like this. The head is lengthened, and its constituent 

 bones more slender than in true Carnivora. Another 

 cogent difference from the last-named family lies in 

 the presence of well-developed collar bones or clavicles, 

 which are only occasionally seen in the carnivorous 

 mammalia in a very rudimentary condition. The 

 limbs of Inseotivora are generally short, and, with one 

 or two notable exceptions, rather feeble ; the feet are 

 furnished with five toes, and in walking the whole sole 

 or palm is applied to the ground, forming a character- 

 istic mode of progression termed plantigrade, and 

 shared by a large section of the Carnivora proper ; the 

 under surfaces of the feet are also consequently desti- 

 tute of hair. The lateral integumentary expansions 

 seen in Cheiroptera have entirely disappeared, while the 

 nature of the epidermal covering varies considerably in 

 diflerent genera ; the tail is sometimes very short. In 

 this order there is no caecal appendage to the large 

 intestine. The two mammoe are situated on the 

 abdominal surface. The various species feed prin- 

 cipally upon insects, and like the bats are frequently 

 nocturnal and subterranean ; a few of them have 

 arboreal habits. 



Family I.— TALPIDJ5. 



The group of species associated under this title are 

 familiarly termed Moles; and although, on a superficial 

 examination, there does not appear much to invite us 

 to the contemplation of their structural and functional 



