422 



Order INSECTIVORA.— IXSECT-EATING ANIMALS. 



'' Pray you tread softly that the Blind Mole may not 

 Hear a foot fall." — Shakspeare. 



Fig. asi. — Shkew.* 



The teeth of the Inseetivora, raised into pointed and conical 

 summits, furnish another example of the adaptation of the 



teeth to the nature of the food 

 on which they are designed to act. 

 This order is represented among 

 Bi'itish animals by the Shrew, the 

 Hedgehog, and the Mole. 

 Soricidoe. — The general appearance 

 of the Shrew {Fig. 331), is well in- 

 dicated by its popular name of 

 " Shrew Mouse." It frequents the 

 field and the garden, rooting with its long and tapering snout 

 for insects and worms. The Water Shrew is not found in Ireland. 

 Erinaceadce. — The common Hedgehog {Erinaceus Euro- 

 pceus, Fig. 332) is, as its scientific name imports, widely distri- 

 buted over Europe. 

 It is unable to defend 

 itself by force, or tc 

 seek safety m flight ; 

 yet by its peculiar 

 covering it is " en- 

 dowed with a safe- 

 guard more secure 

 and effectual than 

 the teeth and claws 



Fig. 332._HEDGEHOG. ^^ ^^^ -^yjj^ (.^^^ ^^ 



the fleetness of the Hare. " Idle stories of its robbing orchards, 

 and carrying off' the apples upon its spines, are yet current in 

 Ireland. At the time we last heard the tale, the innocent object 

 of the slander was in the house, crunching, with much apparent 

 relish, the Common Bandel Snail {Helix nemoralis), in its 

 shell — a group of merry children having collected Irom about 

 the hedgerows a large plateful of the Snails as a supper for 

 their prickly favourite. 



Talpidce. — The Mole {Talpa vulgaiis, Fig. 333) is not 



* The species represented is the Musaraigne of the French authors, and, ac- 

 cording to Professor Bell, identical with the common Shrew of England (Sorex 

 Araneus). The common Shrew of Ireland is the Sorex iitsticus of Jenyns. 



