XVI MIMICRY IN TUPAIA 5X1 



perforated as in Erinaccus (it is not so in Gymnura and Hylomys), 

 but on tlie whole it comes nearest to Hijlomys. 



Fam. 2. Tupaiidae. — This family contains the genera Twpaia 

 and Ptilocercus. Tupaia is Oriental in range, extending as far 

 east as Borneo. There are a dozen or so of species, which are 

 generally arboreal and have the outward aspect of Squirrels. It 

 has been suggested that this is a case of mimicry, the animal 

 gaining some advantage by its likeness to the Eodent. The 

 name Tupaia, it should be added, means Squirrel, and the long- 

 nosed Squirrel, Sciurus laticaudatus, is so extraordinarily like it 

 that " one has to look at the teeth " to distinguish them. 

 ^Moreover, this Squirrel, like some Tupaias, lives largely on the 

 ground among fallen logs. Tupaia resembles a Lemur in the 

 complete orbit. The dental formula is I f C ^ Pmf M|^= 38. 

 The sublingua, too, is stated by Garrod to be like that of 

 Chiromys. There is a minute caecum in 2\ helangeri, none in 

 T. tana. 



Ptilocerais^ has a pen-like posterior portion to the tail, a 

 modification which is found in other groups of animals. The 

 tail of certain I'halangers, for instance, shows this same modi- 

 fication. The rest of the tail is scaly. The animal, as was 

 pointed out by Dr. Gray,^ looks very much like a Phalanger. 

 The orbit is entire as in Tupaia. The fingers and toes are five. 

 The one species, called after Sir Hugh Low, G.C.il.G., P. lowi, is 

 a Bornean animal. 



Fam. 3. Centetidae. — This family is entirely confined to the 

 Island of Madagascar. It includes some seven genera. The best- 

 known genus is Ccntetes. C. ecaudatus, the Tanrec, Tenrec, or 

 Tendrac, is an animal a foot or so in length, without a tail, and with 

 forty-four teeth.^ The immature animal is so different from the 

 parent as to appear quite a different form. It has three narrow 

 rows of spines along the back, which do not wholly disappear 

 until the permanent dentition has been acquired. Even then 

 the hairs are of a rather spiny character, particularly those upon 

 the back of the head, which are erected when the animal is 



1 "Notes on the Visceral Anatomy of the Tupaia of Burmah," Froc. Zool. Soc. 

 1879, p. 301. 



2 Froc. Zool. Soc. 1848, p. 2-3. 



3 I quote Woodward, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1896, for this dentition. The fourth 

 molar of the lower jaw is not always present. It comes late, and only old animals 

 possess it. 



