THE JAPANESE AND HIS BROTHER. 339 



know nothing about, but with my friend from 

 the North-west I am much more familiar; and I 

 shall endeavour to introduce him to you as life- 

 like as I can, from what I have jotted down in 

 my notebook. First, then, the Urotrichus is an 

 insectivorous mammal, its size that of a large 

 shrew, about two-and-a-quarter inches in length, 

 exclusive of tail, which is about an inch and a 

 half. This tail is covered thickly with long hairs, 

 which at the tip end in a tuft like a fine camel's- 

 hair pencil, and from this hairy tail it gets the 

 name, Urotrichus. 



Its colour is bluish-black when alive, but in 

 the dried specimens changes to sooty-brown. 

 The hair is lustrous, and, where it reflects the 

 light, has a hoary appearance, and, as with the 

 mole, it can be smoothed in either direction ; this 

 is a wise and admirable arrangement, as it enables 

 the animal to back through its underground roads, 

 as well as to go through them head-first. Its 

 nose or snout is very curious, and much like that 

 of a pig only that it is lengthened out into a 

 cylindrical tube, covered with short thick hairs, 

 and terminated in a naked fleshy kind of bulb or 

 gland ; and this gland is pierced by two minute 

 holes, which are the nostrils. Each nostril has a 

 little fold of membrane hanging down over it like 



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