322 
INSEC TI VO RES. 
Characteristics. 
these Insectivores are so unlike them in external appearance that it is difficult to 
believe in their close affinity. It must be remembered, however, that the spines of 
the hedgehogs totally alter the appearance of the creature from what it would be, 
if unprovided with these appendages; and if we were to compare a gymnura with 
a young hedgehog, in which the spines were still rudimentary, the difference in 
appearance would not be so very marked. 
The gymnuras are distinguished from the hedgehogs by the total 
absence of spines; and by the presence of a tail to which the type 
genus owes its name. Further points of distinction are afforded by the complete 
bony roof to the palate, and also by the larger number of teeth in the gymnuras, 
which is upwards of forty-four. 
The large and typical number of 
teeth characteristic of these 
animals is, indeed, but very 
rarely met with among existing 
Mammals, although it was com¬ 
mon amongst extinct forms. In 
this respect, therefore, the 
gymnura betrays the antiquity 
of the group to which it belongs. 
Raffles’s gymnura (Gymnura 
rcifflesi) — so named after Sir 
Stamford Raffles—is an animal somewhat resembling a large rat with a long 
pointed nose ; the length of the head and body varying from 12 to 14 inches, and 
that of the long rat-like tail from 8J to 9J inches. The head and body are 
generally parti-coloured, with considerable individual variation in the distribution 
of the black and white. Usually, however, the greater part of the head and neck 
is white; but there is a black patch in front of and another above each of the eyes, 
and there are frequently some long black hairs on the crown of the head. The 
terminal third of the tail is generally white. Occasionally specimens are found in 
Burma of a uniform white colour throughout; these, however, must not be regarded 
as albinos. The hair is of two kinds—a close, soft under-fur and long coarse bristles. 
Raffles’s gymnura, sometimes known as the bulau, is found in the islands of 
Sumatra and Borneo, in the Malay Peninsula, and in Burma. It is either a rare 
animal, or on account of its retiring and strictly nocturnal mode of life is but 
seldom met with. Of its habits we are still ignorant. It is, however, said to make 
its home beneath the roots of trees; and, from the contents of the stomachs of 
specimens that have been examined, we learn that its food consists of different 
kinds of insects ; cockroaches, white ants, and larvse being apparently its favourites. 
It is distinguished by a peculiarly disagreeable smell of a somewhat oniony or 
RAFFLES S GYMNURA. 
garlic-like nature. 
Still more rare is the lesser gymnura (Hylomys suillci), a small rusty-brown 
animal, paler beneath, measuring just short of 5 inches in length, with a tail not 
exceeding an inch. It occurs in Burma, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, 
and Java, ascending in Borneo to a considerable elevation above the sea-level on 
Mount Kina Balu in the northern part of the island. 
