314 
INSECTIVORES. 
occasions catching one—a feat which I have never seen any dog do with a squirrel. 
Cats, of course, often pounce upon them.” Another observer, the Rev. Mr. Mason, 
remarks that “ one that made his home in a mango tree, near my house at Tonghoo, 
made himself nearly as familiar as the cat. Sometimes I had to drive him off the 
bed, and he was very fond of putting his nose into the teacups immediately after 
breakfast, and acquired quite a taste both for tea and coffee. He lost his life at 
last by incontinently walking into a rat-trap.” The familiarity of this tree- 
shrew, and the ease with which it can be tamed, are mentioned by all who 
have written of its habits; and Hr. Cantor mentions that after feeding they 
are in the habit of dressing their fur and paws, after the manner of a cat, and 
that they are partial to water both as a bath and to drink. In disposition 
they are described as being pugna¬ 
cious in the extreme, fighting 
fiercely with one another when 
confined together in a cage, and in 
their wild state driving away all 
intruders of their own kind from 
their particular preserves. Their 
usual call is a short, peculiar, 
tremulous, whistling sound, but 
when roused to anger it is changed 
to shrill protracted cries. 
The resemblance of the tree- 
shrews to the squirrels comes 
under the head of what is now 
termed “mimicry,” and may have 
been originally due to the extreme 
agility of the latter animals insur¬ 
ing them from pursuit by other 
creatures, as being a useless task. 
Hence it would clearly be an 
advantage for a slower animal to 
be mistaken for a squirrel. There 
is, however, a remarkable little 
squirrel (Sciurus tupaioides) found in Sumatra and Borneo, which appears, for 
some reason or other, to simulate the tree-shrews, and thus to afford an instance 
of a kind of reversed mimicry. “Not only does this Rodent,” remarks Blyth, 
“ resemble T. ferruginea in size, and the texture and colouring of its fur, but 
the muzzle is similarly elongated, and there is even the pale shoulder-streak usual 
in the genus Tupaia .” 
PEN-TAILED TREE-SHBEW nat. size). From Gray. 
living; 
O 
Pen-tailed Tree- In addition to the ordinary genera, the only other 
Shrew. member of the family is the pen-tailed tree-shrew (.Ptilocerctis loud), 
which differs so remarkably in the structure of its tail as to form the solitary 
representative of a distinct genus. This little animal is between 5 and 6 inches 
in length, exclusive of the tail, which is of great length, and characterised by its 
upper two-thirds being naked, and the lower third ornamented with a double 
