SPECIES OF MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC AREA 41 ponds. It feeds largely on cockroaches and other insects that frequent houses, but it also eats some of the food intended for human consumption. When cornered it bites fiercely. Cats frequently kill musk shrews although they do not eat them. Fig. 17 — Large Mush Shrew The Asiatic Water Shrews (Chimarrogale) occur in the mountains of Japan, Borneo, and Sumatra. Their teeth are white, unlike those of the American water shrews. The toes of their large hind feet are fringed with stiff hairs and their fur is like long-piled velvet, coarser but more silky than that of land shrews. They are grayish or brownish black above and white below, and are among the largest shrews — about eight inches in total length, the tail about three inches. The body is heavier than that of the house shrew, which has similar dimensions. Water shrews usually live in swift streams ; they are said to walk along the bottom feeding on the water insects and probably also on fish and amphibians. The entrances of their burrows are usually under water.
Moles and Their Allies. Family Talpid^ Most members of this family make burrows and live under ground. The fur is short and velvet-like, the front feet broad,
42 MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC WORLD and the snout long. The first upper incisor is not much larger than the others and is simple in contrast to that of shrews. In the skull the cheek arch, although slender, is complete. The Hairy-tailed Shrew Moles (Urotrichus, Dymecodon) occur in Japan but in none of the other islands included in this discussion; related moles are found in western United States. They are small; the body is a little larger than that of a mouse, with the tail slightly shorter than the body. Their front feet are not broadened noticeably, but the claws are long. They emerge from the ground more frequently than other moles and dig by scratching out the soil from holes more like rodents or dogs.
True Moles (Mogera) of Japan and Formosa are closely allied to those found in China and southern Asia. They resemble the common moles of the United States and Europe in their general torpedo-like shape and short tail, hardly longer than the hind foot. The front feet are broad and almost round in shape; there are no external ears, and the minute eyes are hidden by the fur. These moles are blackish in color, like most species, and are a little less than six inches in total length, with the tail about one inch, excluding the hairs. Other kinds of moles are found in the Malay Peninsula, but they do not reach the islands.
Moles may be said to swim through the ground, using a breast stroke, in their search for earthworms, snails, and grubs, and they constantly use the tough-skinned, elongate snout to pry the soil apart. For this method of burrowing they require damp, fairly soft earth and thus are absent from areas where the soil is rocky, dry, or barren. They are very active, especially after a rain, and have been reported to make a run almost a hundred yards long in a single night. Considering the size of the mole, a man would have to dig a tunnel several miles long in the same length of time in order to equal the work of this mammal. Ridges mark the course of the superficial runs, the earth having been pushed up and to each side, but
SPECIES OF MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC AREA 43 earth from the deeper burrows is pushed up in symmetrical, rounded mole-hills.
Tree Shrews. Family Tupaiid^ The Common Tree Shrews (Tupaia) resemble squirrels in habits, color, bushy tail, and the shape of the hind feet. They are distinguished from squirrels by their long, pointed noses. They have five toes on the front feet. Their upper teeth con- Fig. 18 — Common Tree Shrew sist of two incisors on each side, a small peg-like canine, and six check-teeth; the fourth and fifth cheek-teeth (first two molars) have the cusps arranged in a W-pattern and are much broader than the other teeth. The orbit (eye-socket) is completely surrounded by a bony ringj and the cheek arch is complete. Tree shrews feed on insects, leaves, and fruit, and occasionally the eggs and young of birds. They are often active during the day-time. Tree shrews are found from India, Burma, and southern China to Borneo, Bali, and the Philip-
44 MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC WORLD pines. The common tree shrew is known in the Philippines only from Palawan Island.
The Pen-tailed Tree Shrew (Ptilocercus) is found in Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay States. It is dark brownish above, with yellowish cheeks and white underparts. A black mask runs from the eye to the nose; the tail is chiefly blackish but the feather-like tuft at its end is mixed with white. It is not at all common.
Slender-tailed Tree Shrews {Dendrogale^ Urogale), their tails without the bushiness of the common kind or the featherlike tuft of Ptilocercus^ occur in Indo-China and Borneo. Urogale is restricted to Mindanao, the Philippines. Fig. 19 — Flying Lemur Flying Lemurs. Order Dermoptera.
Family Cynocephalid^ The Flying Lemurs (Cynocephalus), sometimes called cobegos, colugos, or caguans, are about the size of a large squirrel. The face is somewhat dog-like, the limbs and tail long. A broad, thin membrane of furry skin stretches from the neck
SPECIES OF MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC AREA 45 to the thumb, between the fingers, from wrist to ankle, between the toes, and from the end of the long outer toes to the tip of the tail. This animal shows the highest development of the gliding adaptation ; the membrane is much more extensive than that found in the flying squirrels. Although it provides no motive power, the colugo can control its direction. It can glide about seventy yards, and even in the still air of the forest loses little altitude. The fur is very soft and fine. The color varies from grayish to dark brown or chestnut mottled or blotched with silvery white. Flying lemurs are nocturnal animals, living chiefly on leaves and fruits. They are found from the Malay Peninsula and Siam to the Philippines, Borneo, and Java. Bats. Order Chiroptera The bats are an old and very distinct order of mammals. No other furred animals have wings or can actually fly. Those other mammals which make use of air resistance, such as flying lemurs, flying squirrels, and flying phalangers, glide by wide "planes" of skin stretched between the front and hind limbs, but none of these provides its own flying power. Different as bat wings are structurally from those of birds, they are almost as efficient.
The wing of a bat consists of the framework, like the ribs of an umbrella, formed by the greatly elongated bones of the hand, fingers, and arm, and the thin, elastic, generally naked skin which covers the frame and extends between the front and hind limbs. An additional membrane, the interfemoral membrane, often connects the tail with the hind legs but this may be reduced or absent. The thumb is free, its claw hook-like. The hind feet are provided with, sharp, hook-like claws, by which bats attach themselves to branches or walls of caves or buildings and hang head downwards. This is the common position. Measurements in bats are especially important. They are usually measured as to head and body length, tail length, and length of the forearm, from wrist to the elbow.
MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC WOELD Interfemoral Membrane Tail Digit III Fig. 20 — Typical Bat, showing parts of flying mechanism There are two major divisions of the Bat Order — the usually large fruit bats and the insectivorous bats, almost all of small size.
Fruit Bats. Suborder Megachiroptera.
Family Pteropodid^ Although some members of this family are small, with a body about the size of a mouse and the wing-spread less than a foot, most fruit bats are large, the largest having the head and body about a foot in length and the wing-spread as much as five feet. The face is usually fox-like, but in a few species has a short, rounded profile. The tail is often absent, and when present is usually short. The cheek-teeth are generally blunt-crowned; even when the cusps are sharp they do not form the W-pattern of insectivorous bats. Fruit bats are an Old World tropical
SPECIES OF MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC AREA 47 group, found also in Africa and southern Asia ; they occur north to Japan and the Bonin Islands and east to the Caroline Islands and Samoa. They are unknown on the Marshall, Gil- Fig. 21 — Flying Fox bert, or Ellice groups, and in New Zealand, but they are found in northern and eastern Australia. Fruit bats are rather closely related, and in spite of small differences, are included in a single family, the Pteropodidag.
48 MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC WORLD The Flying Foxes (Pteropus and a number of allied genera) are the most widespread of the fruit bats in the western Pacific islands, extending north to southern Japan and as far east as Samoa. In Australia five species are recognized, at least one of which is found as far south as the Victorian border. These tailless bats have a fox-like face with a long slender muzzle. Most bats of this group spend the day hanging in trees, often in great numbers. They fly long distances at dusk to find fruit or flowers over apparently well-established flying-ways. The flesh of most is palatable, if the animals have been skinned carefully to prevent the fur from touching it. Short-nosed Fruit Bats {Cynopterus and several closely related genera) are restricted to the Oriental region, from India and the Philippine Islands east to Celebes. These bats usually have a short tail. One or two tailless forms are restricted to Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula. Dog-faced or Rousette Bats (Rousettus), occurring throughout Africa and the Indo-Australian region, extend east as far as the Solomons but are not known from Australia. The muzzle of these bats is a little shorter and heavier than that of the flying foxes. The tail is short.
Spinal-winged Fruit Bats (Dohsonia) are much like dogfaced bats, but the membranes of their naked wings are attached to the body along the midline of the back rather than along the sides. The posterior half of the back is naked, and the index finger of the wing lacks a claw. The tail is as long as the hind foot. Spinal-winged bats are found from Celebes, Bali, and Sumba to the Solomons and Queensland. Tube-nosed Fruit Bats {Nyctimene, Paranyctimene) have their nostrils drawn out into tubes projecting beyond the rest of the muzzle, which is shorter than in other fruit bats. The well-marked tail is almost as long as the lower leg. No lower incisors are developed, the lower canine teeth being in contact. The color is brownish gray, with the wings and ears usually spotted with yellowish; in most species a dark brown stripe