TEE AGOTJTA . 
361 
to refer to this destructive habit of the animal, and, we presume, has the same meaning as the name 
given by M. Grandidier to the genus which he established for it. 
The Rice Tendrac has the snout produced into a short trunk, at the extremity of which the 
nostrils are situated. The eyes are very small, and the ears rounded and of moderate size. The teeth 
are forty in number, as in the Tanrec. The animal is plantigrade ; the hind feet have five, and the fore 
feet four toes, and those of the latter are armed with very strong curved claws, which are doubtless of 
great service in the burrowing operations alluded to above. 
The Rice Tendrac is of a greyish-brown colour. Its tail is short, clothed with long hairs at the 
base, but naked in the last two thirds, which exhibit a ringed appearance. It must be abundant in 
Madagascar, but M. Grandidier records nothing of its habits beyond the charge he makes of injury to 
the rice-crops. This is no doubt effected by the animal when burrowing in pursuit of insects and 
worms. 
THE EARED EARTH SHREW * 
The curious series of animals included under the family Centetidse is united in a remarkable 
manner by the intervention of a little creature about the size of a Mouse, discovered in Madagascar, 
and described by MM. A. Milne- Edwards and Grandidier under the name of Geogale aurita. At the 
first glance it might be taken for a true Shrew. It has a long head, although the snout is not 
prolonged, the nostrils open at the sides of the nose ; the mouth is large, the ears are of large size, 
membranous, and naked, and apparently capable of folding up at the will of the animal so as to close 
the aperture of the ear, and the tail, which is shorter than the body, is covered with a finely-ringed 
skin, over which are scattered very short brownish hairs. These characters, as is remarked by the 
describers, give the animal somewhat the aspect of a little Opossum. The teeth are thirty-four in 
number ; there appear to be six incisors in each jaw ; the canines are very small, and the molars 
especially resemble those of Solenodon . 
This little animal has the upper part of the body and head rather thinly covered with short 
greyish hairs, and the lower parts greyish-white. The sides of the muzzle bear long, brownish 
moustaches. Specimens were obtained in two localities in Madagascar (Mouroundava and Tullear), 
and in both cases they were found in the ground disturbed by pulling up the posts of a palisade, so 
that it may be inferred that this species hunts worms and larvae in the earth, an operation in which the 
faculty of folding the external ears over their orifice would certainly be useful to it. 
THE AGOUTA.+ 
Several years ago (in 1833) Professor Brandt, of St. Petersburg, described a singular animal 
from St. Domingo, which was particularly interesting, both as being the only known representative of 
the Insectivorous Mammalia in the tropical regions of America, and also on account of its own 
extraordinary character. It was an animal of about the size of a small Rabbit, the head and body 
measuring about a foot in length, but the muzzle was drawn out into a sort of trunk or proboscis, at 
the sides of which, near the tip, the nostrils were situated ; the body terminated behind in a naked, 
rat-like tail, rather more than eight inches in length ; whilst the feet, which were decidedly plantigrade, 
and each furnished with five toes, had the latter armed with curved, compressed claws of formidable 
dimensions, especially on the fore feet. The dentition clearly showed the animal to be insectivorous, 
but its characters were so peculiar that Brandt seems to have regarded it as a sort of intermediate 
form between the Shrews and the Marsupial Opossums, 
Subsequent investigations have shown that, odd as this animal may be, its place is undoubtedly 
among the true Insectivora; and Professor Peters, of Berlin, by a consideration of its characters, 
and especially of those of the skeleton arrived at the conclusion that it is most nearly related to 
the Tanrecs of Madagascar, widely separated as that land is from the West Indian home of the Agouta. 
Professor Brandt established a distinct genus for the reception of the animal described by him, 
which he called Solenodon paradoxus — the generic name referring to the peculiar channelled structure ol 
* Geogale aurita . 
f Solenodon paradoxus. 
