are five fingers and toes. There is a caecum as in but few Insectivores. The tooth formula, as revised by Thomas,[1] is I 3/3 C 1/1 Pm 4/4 M 2/(2 or 3), the total number being thus forty or forty-two. There are several species of this genus.
Fig. 250.—Rhynchocyon chrysopygus. × ¼. (After Günther.)
Rhynchocyon and Petrodromus differ from Macroscelides in not having such long hind-legs. The dental formula of the first is I (1 or 0)/3 C 1/1 Pm 4/4 M 2/2 = 34 or 36, of the latter I 3/3 C 1/1 Pm 4/4 M 2/2 = 40. In Petrodromus the toes are reduced to four; in Rhynchocyon there are only four digits in the manus as well as in the pes. This animal, as its name implies, has a longish proboscis, which can be bent, and is really very like a miniature Elephant's trunk, and also like that of the Desman (Myogale). It has thirteen pairs of ribs, and a well-developed caecum. Dr. Günther has pointed out that in Petrodromus tetradactylus the hairs of the lower part of the tail are stiff elastic bristles 5 mm. long, with a swelling at the free tip. The use of this singular modification is not at all apparent. Pseudorhynchocyon, of European Oligocene, is believed to be related to this family.
Fam. 8. Talpidae.—This family is confined to the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions, or practically so, being fairly equally dis-
- ↑ "Mammals collected by Dr. Emin Pasha," in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1890, p. 446.
