SOLE OF RIGHT
HIND FOOT OF
ELEPHANT SHREW.
Some curious little creatures, peculiar to Africa and its islands, in which, as in the Jerboas and Kangaroos, the hind legs are more developed than the fore limbs, enabling the animals to advance in a biped fashion by a succession of leaps, are regarded by most zoologists as nearly related to the Bangsrings; in fact, both Professor Mivart and Mr. Gill make these two families form a distinct tribe of Insectivora. They both have the same kind of molar teeth, and the intestine furnished with a large cæcum. But whilst the Bangsrings are squirrel-like animals, with feet adapted for a life in trees, the Jumping Shrews are mouse-like creatures, of terrestrial jumping habits, and furnished with a long, thin, proboscis-like muzzle, which has procured for them the name of Elephant Shrews. They have large eyes, and ears of a moderate size and rather widely separated; their hind limbs are considerably elongated, especially the shank and the metatarsus, or portion forming the foot, which has a naked sole that is applied to the ground; the two bones of the shank (tibia and fibula), and in general those of the forearm (radius and ulna), are attached to each other at the lower end; and the first or inner toe is either placed further back than the others, or altogether deficient. The sides of the muzzle are usually furnished with very long whiskers. The tail is long, and more or less rat-like, but covered with short hairs.
In two of the three genera into which the family is divided the number of teeth is forty, namely, on each side, incisors, 33, canines, 11, premolars, 33, and molars, 33, the incisors being small, and the upper canines furnished with two roots. In the exceptional genus Rhynchocyon, which includes only a single species, there is only one incisor in the upper jaw, and even this falls out as the animal grows old.
The species of this family are peculiar to Africa, where they are found in Algeria and Barbary, along the east coast, and at the Cape of Good Hope.
THE ELEPHANT SHREW.[257]
This appears to be the commonest species in Southern Africa, where its habits were observed by the late Sir Andrew Smith, who founded for it the genus Macroscelides. It is about five inches long, with a tail of about three inches, and its colour is a tawny brown, becoming whitish on the limbs. It is diurnal in its habits, and very active, hunting for its insect prey among the scanty herbage and stunted shrubs, which alone flourish in the dry rocky spots which it chooses for its place of habitation. It resides in burrows in the ground, and when disturbed immediately rushes to take shelter in its home, or under some neighbouring rock or stone.
ELEPHANT SHREW.
Sir Andrew Smith described several other South African species, and at least one has been obtained on the Mozambique coast. In their structure and general habits they agree with the above-mentioned animal.