Part 24 (2/2)

_Syn_.--TUPAIA BELANGERI.

_The Pegu Tree-Shrew_ (_Jerdon's No. 88_).

HABITAT.--Sikim (Darjeeling), a.s.sam and through Arakan to Tena.s.serim.

[Figure: _Tupaia Peguana_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Jerdon says: ”General hue a dusky greenish-brown, the hairs being ringed brown and yellow; lower parts the same, but lighter; and with a pale buff line; a stripe from the throat to the vent, broadest between the forearms and then narrowing; ears livid red, with a few short hairs; palms and soles dark livid red.” Dr.

Anderson remarks that the fur is of two kinds of hairs--one fine and wavy at the extremity, banded with black, yellow and black; the second being strong and somewhat bristly, longer than the other, and banded with a black basal half and then followed by rings of yellow and black, then yellow again with a black tip, the black basal half of the hairs being hidden, the annulation of the free portions produces a rufous olive-grey tint over the body and tail.

SIZE.--Head and body about 7 inches; tail, 6-1/2.

Jerdon says of it that those he procured at Darjeeling frequented the zone from 3000 to 6000 feet; they were said by the natives to kill small birds, mice, &c. The Lepcha name he gives is _Kalli-tang-zhing_. McMaster in his notes writes: ”The Burmese Tupaia is a harmless little animal; in the dry season living in trees and in the monsoon freely entering our houses, and in impudent familiarity taking the place held in India by the common palm squirrel. It is, however, probably from its rat-like head and thievish expression, very unpopular. I have found them in rat-traps, however, so possibly they deserve to be so.” He adds he cannot endorse the statement regarding their extraordinary agility mentioned by Dr.

Cantor and quoted by Jerdon, for he had seen his terriers catch them, which they were never able to do with squirrels; and cats often seize them.

Mason says: ”One that made his home in the 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 a taste both for tea and coffee. He lost his life at last by incontinently walking into a rat-trap.”

The Burmese name for it is _Tswai_ in Arracan. Jerdon states that it is one of the few novelties that had escaped the notice of Mr.

Brian Hodgson, but Dr. Anderson mentions a specimen (unnamed) from Nepal in the British Museum which was obtained by Hodgson.

NO. 160. TUPAIA CHINENSIS (_Anderson_).

HABITAT.--Burmah, Kakhyen hills, east of the valley of the Irrawaddy.

DESCRIPTION.--Ferruginous above, yellowish below, the basal two-thirds of the hair being blackish, succeeded by a yellow, a black, and then a yellow and black band, which is terminal; there is a faint shoulder streak washed with yellowish; the chest pale orange yellow, which hue extends along the middle of the belly as a narrow line; under surfaces of limbs grizzled as on the back, but paler; upper surface of tail concolorous with the dorsum.

SIZE.--Head and body, 6-1/2 inches; tail, 6.16.

The teeth are larger than those of _T. Ellioti_, but smaller than the Malayan _T. ferruginea_, and the skull is smaller than that of the last species, and the teeth are also smaller. Dr. Anderson says: ”When I first observed the animal it was on a gra.s.sy clearing close to patches of fruit, and was so comporting itself that in the distance I mistook it for a squirrel. The next time I noticed it was in hedgerows.”

The other varieties of _Tupaia_ belong to the Malayan Archipelago--_T. ferruginea_, _T. tana_, _T. splendidula_, and _T.

Javanica_ to Borneo and Java. There is one species which inhabits the Nicobars.

NO. 161. TUPAIA NICOBARICA.

HABITAT.--Nicobar Island.

DESCRIPTION.--Front and sides of the face, outside of fore-limbs, throat and chest, golden yellow; inner side of hind limbs rich red brown, which is also the colour of the hind legs and feet; head dark brown, with golden hairs intermixed; back dark maroon, almost black; upper surface of the tail the same; pale oval patch between shoulders, dark band on each side between it and fore-limbs, pa.s.sing forward over the ears.

SIZE.--Head and body, 7.10; tail, 8 inches.

There is a little animal allied to the genus _Tupaia_, which has. .h.i.therto been found only in Borneo and Sumatra, but as Sumatran types have been found in Tena.s.serim, perhaps some day the _Ptilocercus Lowii_ may be discovered there. It has a rather shorter head than the true Banxrings, more like _T. Ellioti_, but its dent.i.tion is nearly the same, as also are its habits. Its chief peculiarity lies in its tail, which is long, slender and naked, like that of a rat for two-thirds of its length, the terminal third being adorned with a broad fringe of hair on each side, like the wings of an arrow or the plumes of a feather. There is an excellent coloured picture of it in the 'Proc. Zool. Society,' vol. of Plates.

I had almost concluded my sketch of the Insectivora without alluding to one most interesting genus, which ought properly to have come between the shrews and the hedgehogs, the _Gymnura_, which, though common in the Malay countries, has only recently been found in Burmah--a fact of which I was not aware till I saw it included in a paper on Tena.s.serim mammals by Mr. W. T. Blanford ('Jour. As. Soc.

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