The Tupaiidæ are squirrel-like shrews, having bushy tails, and often climbing up trees, but also feeding on the ground and among low bushes. The typical _Tupaia_ (7 species), are called ground squirrels by the Malays. They are most abundant in the Malay islands and Indo-Chinese countries, but one species is found in the Khasia Mountains, and one in the Eastern Ghauts near Madras. The small shorter-tailed _Hylomys_ (2 species) is found from Tenasserim to Java and Borneo; while the elegant little _Ptilocerus_ (1 species) with its long pencilled tail, is confined to Borneo; (Plate VIII. vol. i. p. 337). The family is therefore especially Malayan, with outlying species in northern and continental India. _Extinct Species._--_Oxygomphus_, found in the Tertiary deposits of Germany, is believed to belong to this family; as is _Omomys_, from the Pliocene of the United States. FAMILY 17.--ERINACEIDÆ. (2 Genera, 15 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | -- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|1. 2. 3. 4 |-- -- 3 -- |1. 2. -- 4 |-- -- -- -- | | | | | The Hedgehogs, comprised in the genus _Erinaceus_ (14 species), are widely distributed over the Palæarctic, and a part of the {188}Oriental regions; but they only occur in the Ethiopian region in South Africa and in the Deserts of the north, which more properly belong to the Palæarctic region. They are absent from the Malayan, and also from the Indo-Chinese sub-regions; except that they extend from the north of China to Amoy and Formosa and into the temperate highlands of the Western Himalayas. The curious _Gymnura_ (1 species) is found in Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay peninsula. _Extinct Species._--The common hedgehog has been found fossil in several Post-tertiary deposits, while extinct species occur in the lower Miocene of Auvergne and in some other parts of Europe. Many of these remains are classed in different genera from the living species;--(_Amphechinus_, _Tetracus_, _Galerix_.) FAMILY 18.--CENTETIDÆ. (6 Genera, 10 Species.)