THE ELEPHANT SHREW. 103 
The peculiarly long nose of the Elephant Shrew is perforated at its extremity 
by the nostrils, which are rather obliquely placed, and is supposed to aid the 
animal in its search after the insects and other creatures on which it feeds. 
The eyes are rather large in proportion to the size of the animal. 
The tail is long and slender, much resembling the same organ in the 
common mouse, and in some specimens, probably males, is furnished at the 
base with glandular follicles, or little sacs. The legs are nearly of equal size, 
but the hinder limbs are much longer than the forelegs, on account of the 
very great length of the feet, which are capable of affording support to the 
creature as it sits in an upright position. As might be presumed from the 
great length of the hinder limbs, the Elephant Shrew is possessed of great 
locomotive powers, and when alarmed, can skim over the ground with such 
Q Renn oneee = 
ELEPHAN! SHREW.—(Macroscelides Proboscideus.) 
celerity that its form becomes quite obscured by the rapidity of its move- 
ment through the air. Its food consists of insects, which it captures in open 
day. 
Evhelieh the Elephant Shrew is a diurnal animal, seeking its prey in broad 
daylight, its habitation is made below the surface of the ground, and consists 
of a deep and tortuous burrow, the entrance to which is a perpendicularly- 
sunk shaft of some little depth. To this place of refuge the creature always 
flies when alarmed, and as it is so exceedingly swift in its movements, it is not 
readily captured or intercepted. 
The colour of the fur is a dark and rather cloudy brown, which is warmed 
with a reddish tinge upon the side and flanks, and fades on the abdomen and 
inner portions of the limbs into a greyish-white. The generic name, Macros- 
celides, is of Greek origin, in allusion to the great length of its hinder limbs, 
and signifies “long-legged.” It is but a small animal, as the length of the 
