. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. :?62 THE TAN EEC. its abdomen so close to the ground, as is the case with the preceding animal. The muzzle of the Tanrec, or Tenrec, as the name is sometimes written, is extremely elongated, rather sharply pointed, and brown in color; the ears are small and rounded, and the tail is absent, a pecu- liarity which has earned for the animal its specific title of ecavddtus, <<r Tailless. The generic name, Centetes, or more correctly Kentetes, is of Greek origin, and signifies "thor
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. :?62 THE TAN EEC. its abdomen so close to the ground, as is the case with the preceding animal. The muzzle of the Tanrec, or Tenrec, as the name is sometimes written, is extremely elongated, rather sharply pointed, and brown in color; the ears are small and rounded, and the tail is absent, a pecu- liarity which has earned for the animal its specific title of ecavddtus, <<r Tailless. The generic name, Centetes, or more correctly Kentetes, is of Greek origin, and signifies "thorny," in allusion to the short and thorn-like spines with which the body is covered. The color of the Tanrec is rather variable at different times, on account of the variegated tints which bedeck the array of quills that adorn and defend its back. These quills are black towards their tips, and yellowish towards their liases, so that either tint predominates, accord- ing to the arrangement of the quills. In length they are inferior to those of the Hedgehog, the A \ ?, Asyrz. TANREC— Centetes ecaudatue. largest not exceeding an inch. The throat, abdomen, and inside faces of the limits are covered with rather coarse yellowish hairs, and the sides and flanks are decorated with long silken hairs of the same color as the spines. Like the Hedgehog, the Tanrec is a hibernating animal, sleeping for at least three months of the year, secure in the burrow which it has excavated by means of the powerful and crooked claws which are attached to its feet. Some writers assert that its period of torpidity is during the heat of summer, while others, who have had practical knowledge of the animal and its habits, say that its periodic somnolence takes place during the cold and wintry months. These contradictory accounts can be recon- ciled by the fact, that the Mauritian winter is from June to November, and that the months which in that island are reckoned as summer months, are winter months
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
