RODENTTA, CHEIROPTERA, AND INSECTIVORA. 415 



tinguished by having the body covered with liair, and the 

 feet not adapted for digging ; whilst there are external ears, 

 and the eyes are well developed. Of all the Insedivora, no 

 division is more abundant or more widely distributed than 

 that of the Shrew-mice. In general form and appearance the 

 Shrews very closely resemble the true Mice {Mvridce) and 

 the Dormice {Myoxid(x), but they are in reality widely dif- 

 ferent, and must not be confounded with them. 



Eemains of Shrews (belonging to the genera Sorcx, Mys- 

 arachne, and Plesiosorcx, fig. 688) have been discovered in the 

 Miocene deposits of Eu- 

 rope. In the Miocene 

 of ISTorth America, the 

 genus Embasis appears to 

 be related to the Shrews. 

 Several existing species 



(such as SoreX aranCUS Fig eSS.-Lert rainus of luwer jaw of Plesiosorex 



nnrl 'H -Pnrln^^-io\ r^nm-i-r^ in soricinoides , twice the natural size. Miocene, 



and b. pcltens) occur ni p^.^^^^ (.^^^^^ p^^^^i ^ 

 Post - Tertiary cave - de- 

 posits and ossiferous breccias. Lastly, the Desmans {Myo- 

 gale) are represented from the Miocene Tertiary onwards. 



Fam. 3. Erinaceidw. — The last family of the Insedivora 

 is that of the Hedgehogs, characterised by the fact that the 

 upper part of the body is covered with prickly spines, the 

 feet are not adapted for digging, and the animal has mostly 

 the power of rolling itself into a ball at the approach of 

 danger. 



The genus Anomys of the Eocene of North America ap- 

 pears to be a member of this family, and if so is its oldest 

 known representative ; while the Esthonyx of the same forma- 

 tion may possibly belong here. True Hedgehogs appear for 

 the first time in Europe in the Miocene Tertiary, some of the 

 species belonging to Erinaceus itself, while otliers have been 

 referred to nearly allied but extinct genera (Amphechinus, &c,) 

 In the later Tertiary and Post-Tertiary of Europe, remains of 

 Hedgehogs are not uncommon, and the Erinaceus fossilis of 

 the Post-Pliocene, does not appear to be separable from the 

 common Hedgehog {E. Europmus). 



