342 INSECTIVORES. 
many as twenty-one young were brought forth at a single birth, fifteen or sixteen 
being the common number. 
Owing to its strictly nocturnal habits, our acquaintance with the 
mode of life of the tenrec is by no means so intimate as could be 
wished. It appears, however, that these animals are chiefly found in the mountains 
of Madagascar, where they inhabit low covert formed by ferns and bushes. Earth- 
worms form a large proportion of their diet, which is, however, extensively sup- 
plemented by insects; and it would seem that the worms and insects are rooted 
out from their holes and hiding-places by the aid of the flexible snout with which 
the tenrec is furnished. During the cooler season of the year the tenrecs hibernate 
for a long period, burrowing deep holes in the ground about May or June, from 
which they do not emerge till the following December. Whether this is to avoid a 
season of drought, when their natural food is difficult to procure, we are unaware. 
Like other animals, which enjoy a periodical rest, the tenrecs at the commencement 
of their hibernation are in a fat condition, and are then much sought after by the 
natives of Madagascar as an article of food; the whereabouts of their burrows being 
usually revealed bv the heap of dirt or débris covering the entrance. 
Habits. 
THE STREAKED TENREC. 
Genus Hemicentetes. 
The streaked tenrec (Hemicentetes semispinosus), together with a second nearly 
allied species (H. nigriceps), represent a genus distinguished from the preceding 
by having three, instead of two, upper incisor teeth, and probably only three upper 
molars; as well as by certain peculiarities in the structure of the skull, and the 
smaller size of the canine teeth, which are scarcely larger than the incisors, and 
cannot properly be termed tusks. 
The streaked tenrec is an animal of about the size of the common mole, and 
derives its name from the streaks of black and yellow with which the body is 
ornamented. In this and the allied species the longitudinal rows of spines on the 
back, which disappear in the adult of the common tenrec, are retained throughout 
life. 
The Hedgehog- The little animals known as hedgehog-tenrees, are so like small 
Tenrecs. hedgehogs in general appearance that they might be readily taken 
for members of the same family. Like hedgehogs, they have the whole of the 
upper surface and sides of the body covered with short, particoloured bristles ; 
and they are also furnished with a short tail. Of more importance as a generic 
character, is the circumstance that there are only two incisor teeth on each side 
of both the upper and lower jaw. Although it is probable that these animals can 
to a certain extent roll themselves up into a ball, yet from the feeble development 
of the layer of muscle beneath the skin, Dr. Dobson is of opinion that this cannot 
be done so completely as in the case with the hedgehogs. Since it cannot be 
considered that the hedgehog-tenrees are in any way nearly related to the hedge- 
hogs, it is somewhat remarkable that both should have developed such exactly 
similar spines, which are used for defensive purposes in the same manner. The 
