THE AGOUTA, OR SOLENODON. 435 
There is another British Shrew, called the Rustic Shrew (Corstra Ristica), which is 
very common throughout Ireland, and is also found in many parts of England. Among the 
Shrews is found the smallest known mammalian animal of the present day; being even 
smaller than the tiny harvest-mouse of England, which has been made so famous by Mr. 
White’s elegant description of itself and its habits in his “ Natural History of Selborne.” 
This most minute quadruped is only one inch and a half in length, exclusive of the tail, 
which measures about an inch. The name of this minikin among mammals is the 
Etruscan Shrew, and its habitation is in Italy. Specimens are said to have been 
discovered in Algeria. 
THE specific title of Paradoxus, or puzzling, has very appropriately been given to the 
AGoUTA; a little animal which is peculiar to Hayti, and which combines in its own 
person several characteristics that properly belong to different families of animals. 
Were the observer to pay regard only to the external peculiarity of fur, ears, and tail, 
he would be inclined to place it among the opossums; but if he were to lay the greatest 
stress upon the teeth, he would probably assign it a place among the shrews. 
AGOUTA, OR SOLENODON.—Solénodon Puradovus. 
It seems, however, that it is really allied to the latter group of animals, and it is 
therefore placed in the position which it at present holds in zoological catalogues. The 
fur of the Agouta is lone, harsh, and coarse in texture, and its colour is an undecided red, 
tinged with yellow. The nose is extremely elongated, like that of the shrews, and 
strengthened at its base by a slender bone, so that it appears to be intended for the 
purpose of digging in the earth like those animals. The nostrils are placed at the 
extremity of the snout, and are divided from each other by a distinct furrow. The cheeks 
and lips are decorated with whisker-hairs of very great length; the eyes are very small ; 
the ears are moderate in size, and rounded, and almost devoid of hairy covering. All the 
feet are terminated with five toes, and the long claws are curved, rather compressed, and 
evidently fitted for the purpose of scraping at the soil. 
The tail is moderately long, measuring about nine inches in leneth, and is rounded 
throughout its length, remainder of the head and body being rather more than a foot 
long. It is not covered with hair, but is rather naked, and for the greater part of its 
length is scaly. The lower jaw is rather shorter than the upper. 
