TUPAIA JAVANICA. 



their affinity. Om- animal has a further resemblance to Tarsius in the form of 

 the feet, in the deep division and free motion of the toes, in the great length of the 

 tarsus of the hind foot, and particularly in the size and prominence of the eyes. 

 But further observations are required to indicate vv^hether in the system above men- 

 tioned, Tupaia should be arranged among the Quadrumana, after the Tarsii, or 

 among the Insectivores, in a section distinct from those animals which lead a subter- 

 raneous life. In this inquiry we should consider that Tupaia is provided with a 

 small coecum. This appears from a concise account of one of the species, probably 

 the Tupaia ferruginea, prepared by Mr. Diard. I regret that I have no other 

 means of referring to this account than that which is afforded by the notices con- 

 cerning the Meetings of the Asiatic Society, which are from time to time given 

 in the Calcutta Gazette. From a republication of these, contained in the Xth 

 Volume of the Asiatic Register, I extract the following : — " On the 10th of March, 

 1820, was brought to the notice of the Society, a drawing and description of a small 

 quadruped, native of Penang, and other Islands of the Indian Seas, by the French 

 Naturalist, M. Diard, and presented in the name of the Honourable Sir Stamford 

 Haffles." After the description of the system of dentition, Mr. Diard proceeds : 

 — " A ces particularites dans la dentition de notre animal, si Ton ajoute la presence 

 d'un petit ccecum a I'origine des intestiiaes ; ccecum qu' aucun des Sorex n'a encore 

 presente, on aura certainement tout le droit possible de le prendre pour type d'une 

 nouvelle sous-division ; nous lui assignerons le nom de Sorex-glis qui donne a la 

 fois, rid6e de la forme extdrieure et de sa veritable nature. Enfin pour terminer 

 I'histoire de ce veritable Sorex, deguise sous des habits d'ecureuil, nous ajoutons, 

 qu'il a de grands yeux, quatre mamelles ventrales, une langue longue, un estomac 

 simple, et vme tube intestinal replife sept fois sur lui-meme, et suive, comme nous 

 I'avons deja dit, d'un petit ccecum." 



In further illustration of the history of the Tupaia javanica, or Bangsring, I have 

 to remark, that it belongs to a genus which has hitherto been only found in the 

 Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, where the individuals are by no means common. 

 Three species, as far as I have ascertained, have hitherto been discovered. The 

 Tupaia ferruginea, the Tupai-Press of the Malays, has the most extensive range ; it 

 inhabits Penang, Singa-pura, and certain portions of Sumatra. The Tupaia Tana has 

 hitherto been found in Sumatra alone, and the Bangsring is exclusively a native of 

 Java. The only notices of the Tupaia ferruginea and of the Tupaia Tana, which have 

 hitherto been made public, are contained in Sir Stamford Raffles's descriptive 

 Catalogue of a Zoological Collection, from Sumatra, pubhshed in the Xlllth 

 Volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, and in the notices, above 

 referred to, of the Meetings of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta. 



