JUMPING SHREWS. 
3*5 
fringe of long hairs, arranged like the vanes of a feather. The general colour of 
the fur is blackish-brown above, with the cheeks and lower-parts yellowish, and a 
dark streak running backwards from the muzzle to encircle the eye; while the 
tail is black, with most of the long hairs of the “ pen ” white. The first specimen 
known was captured by Mr. Low in the house of Sir James Brooke, at Sarawak; 
and the species was considered to be confined to that island. Of late it has, 
however, been discovered in some of the small islands in the neighbourhood of 
Borneo. 
Fossil Tree- As is the case with many of the Mammals of the Oriental region, 
Shrews. the tree-shrews were represented in Europe during the middle of 
the Tertiary period by certain extinct genera. One of these ( Lantlianotherium) 
appears to have been very nearly related to the living tree-shrews, while the other 
(Galerix or Parasorex) presents characters that connect it both with the tree-shrews 
and the jumping shrews. 
The Jumping Shrews. 
Family MACROSCELlDIDM. 
As the tree-shrews simulate the squirrels in the Rodent order, so the jumping 
shrews approximate in form to the gerboas and gerbils. But while the resem¬ 
blance in the former instance is a case of true mimicry, in the other it appears 
to be merely due to adaptation for a similar mode of life. 
The jumping shrews, or, as they are sometimes called, in allusion to their pro¬ 
longed snouts, elephant-shrews, are the African representatives of the tree-shrews, 
with which they agree in many points of their structure, although not in habits. 
They are exclusively confined to Africa; and while agreeing with the members of 
the preceding family in the relatively large size of their brains, as well as in certain 
other features of their internal anatomy, they are distinguished by structural 
differences entitling them to be regarded as the representatives of a separate 
family. Among these differences we may refer to the circumstance that the 
socket of the eye is not surrounded by a bony ring, but is open behind. Then, 
again, the metatarsus, or that portion of the foot immediately below the ankle- 
joint, instead of being of the normal proportions, is greatly elongated, so as to make 
the whole foot nearly as long as the lower leg. Further, instead of pursuing an 
arboreal and diurnal life, like the tree-shrews, the jumping shrews restrict them¬ 
selves to the ground, upon which they progress by leaps, and are mainly or entirely 
nocturnal. 
The typical jumping shrews, constituting; the genus Macroscelides, 
Typical Forms. ^ & & 
of which a species (31. typicus) is represented in the illustration on 
the following page, are characterised by the number of their teeth and toes. With 
one exception, these animals have 42 teeth, of which § are incisors, j canines, and 
f cheek-teeth on either side of the jaws. Invariably they possess five toes on the 
fore-feet; while, with the single exception above mentioned, where there are but 
four, the same number obtains in the hind-foot. Their ears are large, and the tail 
naked and rat-like. 
