24 
MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 
Order HI. INSECTIVORA. 
(Case 27.) 
Case 27.] The small Order known as the Inseetivora, or Insect-eaters, is a 
group of which our common English Hedgehog, Shrew, and Mole 
are typical examples. The members of it are small animals, of 
dull and inconspicuous coloration, gaining their living either by 
burrowing in the ground for worms and larvae, by hunting for beetles 
and other insects in the grass and underwood, or, more rarely, by 
climbing among trees after their prey. By far the greater portion 
are purely animal-feeders. Their voracity is extraordinary, in- 
stances being recorded, both of Moles and Shrews, in which two indi- 
viduals kept in the same cage have attacked each other, the victor 
eating the whole of its opponent, leaving the skin only. A fast of 
only three or four hours is fatal to most of them ; so that the 
total number of worms and insects destroyed by the members of 
this Order must be enormous. The range of the Insectivora 
extends over the whole world, with the exception of South America 
and Australia. 
They are divided into the following families : — 
The TiipaiidcEy or Tree-Shrews of India and jMalaysia, so like 
Fig. 0. 
TlieH'upaia {^Tupam tana). 
Squirrels both in appearance and habits as to be easily mistaken 
for them. They feed on various insects, and also to a small extent 
