PACHYURA 



83 



treated as ineinbers of a distinct genus. The only European 

 species is immediately recognizable by its excessively small size. 



PACHYURA ETRUSCA Savi. 



1822. Sorex ctrnscus Savi, Nuovo Giorn. de' Letterati, Pisa, i, p. 60 (Pisa, 



Italy). 

 1835. [Sorex] pachyunis Kiister, Isis, p. 77 (Cagliari, Sardinia). 

 1841. Pachyura etrusca Bonaparte, Iconogr. Faun. ItaL, i, Indice disfcrib. 

 1857. Crocidura suaveolens Blasius, Siiugethiere Deutschlands, p. 147. 

 1910. Pachyura etrusca Trouessart, Faune Mamm. d'Europe, p. 43. 



Tfipe locality. — Pisa, Italy. 



Geographical distribution. — Italy and adjoining portions of the 

 Mediterranean region.* Limits of range not known. 



Diagnosis. — Much smaller than Crocidura russula (head and 

 body, 3.5-40 mm. ; hind foot, 7 ' 6-8 mm.), but with tail (25- 

 30 mm.) relatively longer, its ratio to head and body about 

 70 ; skull excessively small, its cond3'lobasal length only about 

 12 '8 mm., the dorsal profile nearly straight from front of nasal 

 to back of parietals, usually a little concave in interorbital 

 region, the brain-case narrow but even more flattened than in 

 Crocidura leucodon and C. mimula ; teeth not conspicuously 

 difiei'ent from those of the smaller European species of Crocidura, 

 except for the presence of the fourth upper unicuspid, and their 

 much smaller size (maxillary tooth-row about 6 mm.). 



External characters. — ^In general external form Pachi/ura 

 I'trusca does not differ notably from Crocidura rus.mla except in 

 the relatively longer tail. The weight of a full grown individual 

 is, however, probably not more than one-fourth or one-third that 

 of an adult C. russula, and the head and feet are equally small 

 in proportion, a character by which Pachyura etrusca mav be 

 easily distinguished from young individuals of the larger animal. 

 Mamma;, i 3 — 3 = 6. 



Colour. — Upper parts a uniform slaty brown, perhaps best 

 described as drab-grey washed with light bister, the indi^■idual 

 hairs slate-grey at base. Underparts faintly contrasted, rather 

 pale drab-grey with silvery reflections in certain lights. Feet 

 dull light slaty grey not noticeably contrasted with back. Tail 

 like back above, usually becoming somewhat darker toward tip, 

 lighter and more like belly below, but with no evident contrast 

 between the colours of the two surfaces. 



Skull. — Apart from the small size the skull differs from that 

 of its European allies in .several important characters. Most 

 noticeable among these is the extreme flatness of the dorsal 

 profile, which is essentialh' straight from nares Lo occipital, 

 usually a little concave in interorbital region, while in the 

 European foims of Crocidura it is usually a little convex 

 throughout, and never evidently concave in interorbital region. 



* Spain. See footnote, p. 8G.— O. T. 



