SOREX. 85 
No. 126. SoOREX MURINUS. 
The Mouse-coloured Shrew (Jerdon’s No. 70). 
HapsitTat.—India generally, Burmah and Ceylon. 
DESCRIPTION. Brownish-grey above, paler beneath ; fur coarser and 
longer than in the last species, and in the young ones the colour is more 
of a bluish-grey, browner on the back. ‘The ears are larger than those 
of S. cerulescens ; tail nearly equal to the body, thick at the base, and 
sparsely covered with long coarse hairs; feet and tail flesh-coloured 
in the living animal. 
S1zeE.—Head and body about 6 inches; tail, 34 inches. 
“This,” as Jerdon says, “is the common musk-rat of China, 
Burmah, and the Malayan countries, extending into Lower Bengal and 
Southern India, especially the Malabar Coast, where it is said to be the 
common species, the bite of which is considered venomous by the 
natives.” Kellaart mentions it in,Ceylon asthe “common musk shrew 
or rat of Europeans;” but he confuses it with the last species. He 
gives the Singhalese name as “‘ Loone meeyo.” The musky odour of this 
species is less powerful, and is almost absent in the young. Blyth states 
that he was never able to obtain a specimen of it in Lower Bengal, yet 
the natives here discriminate between the light and dark-coloured 
shrews, and hold, with the people of Malabar, that the bite of the latter 
is venomous. Horsfield states that it has been found in Upper India, 
Nepal, and Assam, and he gives the vernacular name in the last-named 
country as ‘‘ seeka.” 
No. 127. SOREX NEMORIVAGUS. 
The Nepal Wood Shrew ( Jerdon’s No. 71). 
Hapitat.—Nepal. 
DeEscriPTION.—Differs from the last “by a stouter make, by ears 
smaller and legs entirely nude, and by a longer and more tetragonal 
tail; colour sooty black, with a vague reddish smear; the nude parts 
fleshy grey ; snout to rump, 32 inches; tail, 2 inches, planta, 4} inch. 
Found only in woods and coppices.”—Hodgson. 
No. 128. SoREX SERPENTARIUS. 
The Rufescent Shrew ( Jerdon’s No. 72). 
HasitTat.—Southern India, Burmah and Ceylon. 
DescriPTIon.—Colour dusky greyish, with rufous brown tips to the 
hairs (Gdyth). Above dusky slate colour with rufescent tips to the 
fur; beneath paler, with a faint rufous tinge about the breast (/erdom). 
