ERINACEIDE 619 
hind limbs relatively shorter, and proboscis longer than in the type 
genus ; four digits in each foot. Four closely allied species have 
been described from East Africa. The head and body of the type 
Fig. 284.—Maeroscelides tetradactylus. x4. (From Peters, Reise nach Mossambique.) 
species measures about & inches in length; and the long tail is 
covered with a ringed skin, sparsely haired. Its habits are fossorial. 
Family ERtS ACEID.£. 
Skull with a small brain-case ; no postorbital process ; slender 
and occasionally imperfect zygomatic arch, and an annular tympanic, 
which does not form a bulla. Upper molars with four principal 
cusps and a small central median cusp. Acromion of scapula bifid ; 
pubic symphysis short; radius and ulna free, but tibia and fibula 
united proximally. No cecum; penis carried forward and sus- 
pended from the wall of the abdomen. Habits terrestrial. Found 
in the Palearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental regions. 
Subfamily Gymnurine.—Palate completely ossified ; pelvis 
very narrow ; fur without spines. 
Gymnura.—Dentition: ¢ 3, ¢ 4, p 4, m 3; total 44. This 
genus, if Hylomys is rightly included, is represented by the two 
1 Horsfield and Vigors, Zool. Journ. vol. iii, p. 246 (1828). 
