Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 93

Hinder edge of metatarsus covered with hair.

NO. 479. MEMINNA INDICA.

_Indian Mouse Deer_.

NATIVE NAMES.--_Pisuri_, _Pisora_, _Pisai_, Hindi and Mahratti; _Mugi_ in Central India; _Turi-maoo_, Gondi; _Jitri-haran_, Bengali; _Gandwa_, Ooria; _Yar_ of the Koles; _Wal-mooha_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--In all the large forests of India; but is not known, according to Jerdon, in the countries eastward of the Bay of Bengal.

It is common in the bamboo forests of the Central provinces, where I obtained it on several occasions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mouse Deer. (From Sir Emerson Tennant's 'Ceylon,' by permission of Messrs. Longmans.)]

DESCRIPTION.--"Above olivaceous, mixed with yellow grey; white below; sides of the body with yellowish-white lines formed of interrupted spots, the upper rows of which are joined to those of the opposite side by some transverse spots; ears reddish-brown"

(_Jerdon_). The colour however varies; some are darker than others.

SIZE.--Length, 22 to 23 inches; tail, 1-1/2 inches; height, 10 to 12 inches. Weight, 5 to 6 lbs.

The above measurements and weight are taken from Jerdon. Professor Garrod (Ca.s.sell's Nat. His.) gives eighteen inches for length and eight inches for height, which is nearer the size of those I have kept in confinement; but mine were young animals. They are timid and delicate, but become very tame, and I have had them running loose about the house. They trip about most daintily on the tips of their toes, and look as if a puff of wind would blow them away.

They are said to rut in June and July, and bring forth two young about the end of the rainy season.

TRIBE TYLOPODA--THE CAMELS.

This name, which is derived from the Greek [Greek: tulos], a swelling, pad, or knot, and [Greek: pous], a foot, is applied to the camels and llamas, whose feet are composed of toes protected by cus.h.i.+on-like soles, and not by a h.o.r.n.y covering like those of the Artiodactyli generally. The foot of the camel consists of two toes tipped by small nails, and protected by soft pads which spread out laterally when pressed on the ground. The two centre metacarpal bones are fused into one cannon bone, and the phalanges of the outer and inner digits which are more or less traceable in all the other families of the Artiodactyli are entirely absent.

The dent.i.tion of the camel too is somewhat different from the rest of the Ruminantia, for in the front of the upper jaw there are two teeth placed laterally, one on each side, whereas in all other ruminating animals there are no cutting teeth in the upper jaw--only a hard pad, on which the lower teeth are pressed in the act of tearing off herbage.

The stomach of the camel is the third peculiarity which distinguishes it. The psalterium or manyplies is wanting. The abomasum or "reed"

is of great length, and the rumen or paunch is lined with cells, deep and narrow, like those of a honeycomb, closed by a membrane, the orifice of which is at the control of the animal. These cells are for the purpose of storing water, of which the stomach when fully distended will hold about six quarts. The second stomach or reticulum is also deeply grooved.

The hump of the camel may also be said to contain a store of food.

It consists of fatty cells connected by bands of fibrous tissue, which are absorbed, like the fat of hibernating bears, into the system in times of deprivation. Hard work and bad feeding will soon bring down a camel's hump; and the Arab of the desert is said to pay particular attention to this part of his animal's body.

There are two species of true camel, _Camelus dromedarius_, with one hump only, most commonly seen in India, and _C. bactria.n.u.s_, the two-humped camel, a shorter, coa.r.s.er-looking, and less speedy animal.

There never was a creature about whom more poetical nonsense has been written. He has been extolled to the skies as patient, long-suffering, the friend of man, and what not. In reality he is a grumbling, discontented, morose brute, working only under compulsion and continual protest, and all writers who know anything of him agree in the above estimate of his disposition. The camel is nowhere found in a wild state.

ORDER EDENTATA.

These are animals without teeth, according to the name of their order.

They are however without teeth only in the front of the jaw in all, but with a few molars in some, the Indian forms however are truly edentate, having no teeth at all. In those genera where teeth are present there are molars without enamel or distinct roots, but with a hollow base growing from below and composed of three structures, vaso-dentine, hard dentine and cement, which, wearing away irregularly according to hardness, form the necessary inequality for grinding purposes.

The order is subdivided into two groups: _Tardigrada_, or sloths, and _Effodientia_ or burrowers. With the former we have nothing to do, as they are peculiar to the American continent. The burrowers are divided into the following genera: _Manis_, the scaly ant-eaters; _Dasypus_, the armadillos; _Chlamydophorus_, the pichiciagos; _Orycteropus_, the ant-bears, and _Myrmecophaga_, the American ant-eaters.

Of these we have only one genus in India; _Manis_, the pangolin or scaly ant-eater, species of which are found in Africa as well as Asia.

_GENUS MANIS_.

Small animals from two to nearly five feet in length; elongated cylindrical bodies with long tails, covered from snout to tip of tail with large angular fish-like scales, from which in some parts of India they are called _bun-rohu_, or the jungle carp; also in Rungpore _Keyot-mach_, which Jerdon translates the fish of the _Keyots_, but which probably means khet-mach or field-fish--but in this I am open to correction. The scales overlap like tiles, the free part pointing backwards. These form its defensive armour, for, although the _manis_ possesses powerful claws, it never uses them for offence, but when attacked rolls itself into a ball.

In walking it progresses slowly, arching its back and doubling its fore-feet so as to put the upper surface to the ground and not the palm. The hind-foot is planted normally--that is, with the sole on the earth.

The tongue is very long and worm-like, and covered with glutinous saliva; and, much of this moisture being required, the sub-maxillary glands are very large, reaching down under the skin of the neck on to the chest.

The external ear is very small, and internally it is somewhat complicated, there being a large s.p.a.ce in the temporal bone which communicates with the internal ear, so that, according to Professor Martin-Duncan, one tympanum is in communication with the other.

These animals are essentially diggers. The construction of their fore-arms is such as to economise strength and the effectiveness of their excavating instruments. The very doubling up of their toes saves the points of their claws. The joints of the fore-fingers bend downwards, and are endowed with powerful ligaments; and in the wrist the scaphoid and semi-lunar bones are united by bone, which increases its strength. As Professor Martin-Duncan remarks: "Every structure in the creature's fore-limbs tends to the promotion of easy and powerful digging, and, as the motion of scratching the ground is directly downwards and backwards, the power of moving the wrist half-round and presenting the palm more or less upwards, as in the sloths and in man, does not exist. In order to prevent this p.r.o.nation and supination the part of the fore-arm bone, the radius, next to the elbow, is not rounded, but forms part of a hinge joint." He also notices another interesting peculiarity in the chest of this animal, the breast-bone being very long; the cartilage at end large, with two long projections resembling those of the lizards. There is no collar-bone.

NO. 480. MANIS PENTADACTYLA _vel_ BRACHYURA.

_The Five-fingered or Short-tailed Pangolin_ (_Jerdon's No. 241_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Bajar-kit_, _Bajra-kapta_, _Sillu_, _Sukun-khor_, _Sal-salu_, Hindi; _Shalma_ of the Bauris; _Armoi_ of the Kols; _Kauli-mah_, _Kauli-manjra_, _Ka.s.soli-manjur_, Mahratti; _Alawa_, Telegu; _Alangu_, Malabarese; _Bun-rohu_ in the Deccan, Central provinces, &c.; _Keyot-mach_, in Rungpore; _Katpohu_, in parts of Bengal; _Caballaya_, Singhalese.

HABITAT.--Throughout India. Jerdon says most common in hilly districts, but nowhere abundant. I have found it myself in the Satpura range, where it is called _Bun-rohu_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Manis pentadactyla_.]

DESCRIPTION.--Tail shorter than the body, broad at the base, tapering gradually to a point. Eleven to thirteen longitudinal rows of sixteen scales on the trunk, and a mesial line of fourteen on the tail; middle nail of fore-foot much larger than the others. Scales thick, striated at base; yellowish-brown or light olive. Lower side of head, body, and feet, nude; nose fleshy; soles of hind-feet dark.

SIZE.--Head and body, 24 to 27 inches; tail, about 18. Jerdon gives the weight of a female measuring 40 inches as 21 pounds.

This species burrows in the ground to a depth of a dozen feet, more or less, where it makes a large chamber, sometimes six feet in circ.u.mference. It lives in pairs, and has from one to two young ones at a time in the spring months. Sir W. Elliot, who gives an interesting detailed account of it, says that it closes up the entrance to its burrow with earth when in it, so that it would be difficult to find it but for the peculiar track it leaves (_see_ 'Madras Journal,' x. p. 218). There is also a good account of it by Tickell in the 'Journal As. Soc. of Bengal,' xi. p. 221, and some interesting details regarding one in captivity by the late Brigadier-General A. C. McMaster in his 'Notes on Jerdon.' I have had specimens brought to me by the Gonds, but found them very somnolent during the day, being, as most of the above authors state, nocturnal in its habits. The first one I got had been kept for some time without water, and drank most eagerly when it arrived, in the manner described by Sir Walter Elliot, "by rapidly darting out its long extensile tongue, which it repeated so quickly as to fill the water with froth."

The only noise it makes is a faint hiss. It sleeps rolled up, with the head between the fore-legs and the tail folded firmly over all.

The natives believe in the aphrodisine virtues of its flesh.

NO. 481. MANIS AURITA.

_The Eared Pangolin_ (_Jerdon's No. 242_).

HABITAT.--Sikhim, and along the hill ranges of the Indo-Chinese frontier. Dr. Anderson says it is common in all the hilly country east of Bhamo.

DESCRIPTION.--Tail shorter and not so thick at the base as that of the last; the body less heavy; smaller and darker scales; muzzle acute; ears conspicuous; scales of head and neck not so small in proportion as in _M. pentadactyla_.

SIZE.--Head and body of one mentioned by Jerdon, 19 inches; tail, 15-1/4 inches.

NO. 482. MANIS JAVANICA.

_The Javan Ant-eater_.