TUPAIA JAVANICA. 
their affinity. Our 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 whether in the system above men- 
tioned, Tupaia should be arranged among the Quadrumana, after the Tarsii, or 
among the Inscctivores, 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 ccecum. This appears from a concise account of one of the species, probably 
the Tupaia ferruginea, prepared by Mu. Diaud. 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 
Raffles.*' Alter 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 l'origine des intestines ; ccecum qu* aucun des Sorex n'a encore 
presents, on aura certainement tout le droit possible de le prendre pour type d'une 
nouvelle sous-division ; nous lui assign erons le nom de Sorex-glis qui donne a la 
fois, Tidee de la forme exterieure et de sa veritable nature. Enfin pour terminer 
Tliistoire 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 estomae 
simple, et une tube intestinal replie. sept fois sur lui-meme, et suive, comme nous 
l'avons deja dit, d'un petit caecum." 
In further illustration of the history of the Tupaia javanica, or Bangsring, I have 
to remark, that it belongs to a genus w T hich 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 IVnang, 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 Raffle s*s descriptive 
Catalogue of a Zoological CoDection, from Sumatra, published in the XHIth 
Volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, and in the notices, above 
referred to, of the Meetings of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta. 
