52 Mammals of Eastern Asia 
brown above, yellowish white beneath. These reports are based 
upon work by the Russian mammalogist Ognev. 
The Miracle Shrew, Sorex mirabilis, a comparatively new 
discovery in Ussuri, known by a single specimen, is colored 
brown above, paler brown beneath, and has the tail uniformly 
dull grayish brown. 
The Chinese Shrew, 6\ sinalis, the largest of the several 
Shrews of China belonging to the genus Sorex, is uniformly 
grayish brown above, drab brown underneath, and has brownish 
white hands and feet. It is barely possible that sinalis and 
mirabilis may be close relatives. 
The Striped-back Shrews, 5. cylindricauda (meaning 
round-tailed), have a tricolored pattern; the upper side cinna- 
mon-brown, with a darker stripe along the middle of the back; 
the underparts dark gray, washed with cinnamon. The members 
of the race S\ c. gomphus in northeastern Burma (7000 feet) 
have the dorsal striping less obvious. In them the length of the 
tail is about 2 inches. 
Allen's Shrew, S\ excelsus, a medium-sized species from 
western Yunnan, is grayish brown above, below buffy gray with 
silvery lights in the fur. The hands and feet are silvery gray. 
The Southern Long-tailed Shrews, genus Soriculus, are 
best distinguished from Sorex by the number of their teeth, 
which is 30 instead of 32. This reduction in the tooth count is 
carried farther in the next genus, Chodsigoa, which has but 
28 teeth. In certain of the species only the tail is longer than the 
head and body. The distribution of Soriculus is mainly among 
the mountains of southern Asia, whereas that of Sorex is chiefly 
northern. 
The typical species, Soriculus nigrescens, has the tail only 
about one-half of the length of the head and body. It is colored 
sooty brown both above and beneath and occurs in the neighbor- 
hood of Darjiling at moderate altitudes, between 3500 and 7400 
feet. Three other races of it are known: S. n. centralis from 
