HYLOMIDJ3.
C h a r a c t e r s .— Head elongate; ears round; feet arboreal, naked below; tail semi-nude; pelage not
spiny; orbit imperfect ; rudimentary post-orbital process present; no zygomatic imperfections
of ossification; pelvis posteriorly depressed; symphysis pubis very short; tibia and fibula
united; dentition 1 |g | c ifipm m 573 = 44.
Genus Htlomys, Muller.
* Hylomys pegtjensis, Blyth, Plate YI.
Eylmys peguensis, Blytb, Joum. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xxxviii. 1859, p. 294; Ibid, p. 286 ;- Anderson,
Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. vol. viii. 1874, p. 458, plate lxiv.
The general configuration and details of the structure of this Insectivore are
so anomalous that it cannot, with propriety, be classed either with the Tvpaiidw
or Erinaceidce, as it has characters in common with both of these groups. Its
■ skull has the general form of the skull of Tupaia, but in its imperfect orbit,
in the rudiment of a post-orbital process, and in the absence of any imperfections
of the zygomatic arch, and in the position of its lachrymal foramen, it resembles
the skull of Erinaceus, to which it has a general resemblance, although at the same
timp it is a much lighter skull, in keeping with the arboreal habit of the animal.
As I have elsewhere shown, it also differs from Tupaia in the skull having an
imperfect tympanic bulla, an excavated basi-sphenoid, and paroccipital and
mastoid processes. In these details of its skull structure it is more nearly related
to the Ermaceidw than to the 'Vupaiidce, but it does not approach either of
these groups to that degree of affinity that would entitle it to be ranked under
either of them.
Its teeth also show proclivities with the Ennaceida, whilst at the same time
they exhibit undoubted relations to the teeth of Tv/paia. The form of its scapula
is intermediate between that of Tupaia, and even Erinaceus itself. Its united
tibia and fibula affine it to the Erinaceidce, and the form of its pelvis, moreover, is
markedly distinct from the pelvis of Tupaia, whereas it is closely resembled by
the pelves of Gymnu/ra and Erinaceus. In its short rudimentary tail it also
exhibits a character the very opposite of any Tupaia.
Considering all these facts, this animal appears to present an assemblage of
characters which excludes it from any known family of vertebrates, and to place
it intermediate between Tupaia and Eri/naceus. I have therefore named the family
Mylomidce for its reception.
This animal was obtained at Ponsee, in the ELakhyen hills, at an elevation
of about 3,000 feet.
SOE-ICID^l.
Genus C h i m a r r o g a l e , n. g.
Feet scaly, ciliated, toith short, coarse, rigid hairs along their margins a/nd the
sides o f the toes ; toes not webbed. Tail long, scaly, quad/rangular, thickly covered
with coarse adpressed hairs; snout elongate; ears almost wholly hidden, valvular.
Teeth white + | + 2 + e ^ ^ talon on the inside o f the first upper incisors.
Three intermediate teeth of nea/rly equal size.
* C h im a r r o g a l e h im a l a ic a , Gray, Plate v, figs. 17—30.
Crossopus hmalayious, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1842, p. 261; Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng.
- . .1 8 5 5 , p . 8 7 .
Crossopus himalaicus, Tomes, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 2nd Ser. 1856, vol. xvii. p. 26; Jerdon,
Mamm. of India, 1867, p. 60.; Andr. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 280.
Croci/hra, himalaica, Andr., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1873, p. 23lT ‘i;1'
I caught a specimen of this remarkable water-shrew in a mountain stream
behind our camp at Ponsee, in the Kakhyen hills, at an elevation of 3,500 feet.
I observed it running about over the stones in the bed of the stream and plunging
freely into the water. I t was evidently engaged in feeding, and in addition to
insects and aquatic larvae, it is probable that, like Crossopus fodiens and C. remiger,1
it may kill young fish.
I have examined the type of this species in the British Museum, but with the
exception of its somewhat greater length of body and tail, I do not see that this
Yunnan specimen differs from it in any of its essential features. The type being a
stuffed specimen, its somewhat greater size may safely be attributed to. the stretching
of the skin in mounting.
The animal has a rather elongated body and snout. The fur is soft, dense
and velvety, and the general colour of the upper parts is a dark grey, richly washed
with a dark brown, almost black, fuliginous or blackish brown which nearly obscures
the grey colour. When the fur is pulled aside, it is seen to be uniformly slaty,
but all the hairs terminate in fine brown or blackish brown tips, with the exception
of scattered, stronger, and longer hairs which have broad white tips. These hairs
are especially numerous on the hind quarters, where they are also much longer
1 Land and Water, No. 14, p. 328, and No. 17, p. 398.