TUPAIA JAVANICA. 



The Bangsring fell under my observation during an early period of my 

 researches in Java. In traversing the Province of Blambangan, in the year 1806, 1 

 discovered it in the extensive forests which cover almost entirely the eastern extre- 

 mity of the Island. Constant and careful researches, since that period, have neither 

 enabled me to meet with it again, nor to ascertain that the natives in other parts of 

 Java are acquainted with it : and although its range may not be confined exclusively 

 to the Province of Blambangan, yet, agreeably to my observations, it is extremely 

 limited, both in residence and numbers. During the period above mentioned, I 

 obtained but two individuals. One of these was forwarded to the Museum of the 

 Honourable East India Company in 1812, with a few remarks on its locality, food, 

 and manners ; and the other formed part of the collection which was brought to 

 England by me in 1819. 



I have to regret that the information which I was enabled to collect during my 

 passage through the districts which the Tupaia javanica inhabits, was extremely 

 scanty, and not calcvilated to illustrate those circumstances which are most interest- 

 ing in its economy, and on Avhich its final arrangement will depend. Our animal 

 was obtained, at one period only, in the extensive and almost inaccessible forests of 

 the Province of Blambangan : here the natives described it as living on trees, and 

 feeding on fruits and nuts. But this intelligence must be received with due limi- 

 tation. The system of dentition evinces that the Bangsring is more adapted to 

 animal than to vegetable food : to elucidate this, it is siifficient to examine carefully 

 the structure of the teeth. Thus, for instance, we find in the upper jaw, on each 

 side, one erect front tooth, of great length, calculated effectually to answer the 

 purpose of the canine teeth, which, from a peculiarity of structure in this genus, 

 and in several allied genera, both among the Insectivores and Tarsii, are shorter than 

 the front teeth. The fourth grinder is provided with a lacerative point, of uncom- 

 mon length ; the fifth and sixth grinders are of a compound nature ; in the middle 

 of the crowir they have two erect, high, acute points, which give most decidedly 

 the character of carnivorous animals, while an extensive even projection (or gradus) 

 on the inner side, affords a triturating surface. In the lower jaw the front teeth 

 have that disposition which also occurs in the Insectivores, Tarsii, and Rodentia ; 

 they are adapted both to animal and vegetable food ; but the third, fourth, and fifth 

 grinders correspond with the fourth, fifth, and sixth grinders in the upper jaw, and 

 are provided with high sharp points, which are found exclusively in carnivorous 

 animals. Those characters in the system of dentition that are adapted to vegetable 

 food, shew themselves in the first, second, and third grinders in the upper, and in 

 the first and second in the lower jaw, which, in Bangsring, are obtuse ; in the 

 large triturating surface, on the internal side of the fifth and sixth grinder of the 



