62 African Zoology. 



countrj towards Latakoo, where they are sometimes seen alongside of, 

 or even upon the high roads. — South African QnarUrlij Journnl, No. 5, 

 Oct, 1831. 



Genus SoREX. Linncetis. 



Incisors l spurious canines or lateral incisors li or^^ i, molars 

 J §, — 28 or 30. Upper incisors indented at their bases; lower 

 horizontal torvards their bases, turned up towards their tips: 

 spurious canines conical,' small and shorter than the molars, the 

 latter crowned with points. Head elongated ; nose prolonged 

 and moveable ; ears short and rounded; ctjes small but percepti- 

 ble; tail varying i)i length, round, compressed, or four-sided; 

 feet icith five toes ; nails short, ctirved, and pointed; sebaceous 

 glands on the flanks. 



Sorex Capensis, Geoffroy. (Cape Shrew.) Fur short and 

 soft; the surface colour of the upper parts of the head, of the 

 hack, and dorsal half of the sides, is an uniform j'cllowish brown, 

 which varies in depth of tint iu different individuals; the under 

 parts ashy grey or grey-white: the bases of the hairs above dark 

 slate coloured, of those beneath light slate coloured. Muzzle 

 elongated and slender, two-lohed at the tip ; whiskers lonp, 

 particularly towards the angles of the mouth : cars large, naked, 

 and of a pale brownish colour; inferior margin of each, to- 

 gether •^th the oblique septum upon the anterior surface, 

 fringed with some long- white hairs. Tail cylindrical, and 

 above covered with a short reddish "brown fur, intermixed with 

 some long whitish hairs ; beneath with ashy white fur. Length 

 from nose to base of tail five inches and a half; tail two inches. 



Inhabits South Africa. 



Sorex flavesccns, Geoff. Mem. du Mus. d' Histoire Naturelle. 

 Iluitieme annec. Dieuxitme cahier. Scheer Muis of the Cape 

 Colonists, 



Sorex Capensoides, Smith. Fur moderately long and soft ; 

 above the surface colour is brownish, finely sprinkled with 

 •white ; beneath greyish or reddish white ; all the hairs towards 

 their bases dark slate coloured: tail covered with a fine short 

 fur, which is intermixed, particularly on the sides, with a num- 

 ber of long fine hairs. Muzzle elongated, the apex two-lohed ; 

 nostrils directed outwards ; ears large, bare, and projecting be- 

 yond the fur ; teeth dull white. Length from nose to base of 

 tail three inches ; tail an inch and three quarters. 



Inhabits South Africa, — near Cape Town. 



Obs. The specimen from which the description has been drawn up, ap- 

 pears to he an adult, but as it is not in a good state of preservation it is 

 possible that it may be the Sorex Capensis in a ditTerent age. The tail, 

 however, is longer in proportion to the body than that of the Cape Shrew. 



