THE MUSK-SHREWS 



333 



ing figure, occur on the continent of Europe. These shrews, which are of 

 terrestrial habits, have either twenty-eight or thirty teeth, well-developed ears, and 

 a long tail, and are covered with a coat of mingled long and short hairs. The eyes 

 are very small, and placed nearer to the ears than to the tip of the nose. Each side 

 of the body is furnished with a gland (sometimes absent in the female) secreting 

 the musky product from which these shrews derive their popular name. 



More than eighty species of musk-shrews have been described ; the range of 

 the genus embracing Southern and Central Europe, Africa, and Asia. The species 

 with the widest range is the spider musk-shrew, above mentioned, which is found 

 from North Africa and Central and Southern Europe to Central Asia, extending as 

 far north as Northeastern Siberia, and as far south as Ladak. It belongs to the 

 typical group of the genus, characterized by having only three small conical teeth 



t THE COMMON MUSK-SHREW. 



(Natural size.) 



behind the large first upper incisor ; and it is a comparatively small species, of about 

 three inches in length, exclusive of the tail. This shrew frequents cultivated 

 grounds in Europe, not unfrequently entering houses ; and preys on insects, worms, 

 and the young of the smaller Mammals and birds. The young are born in summer, 

 and vary from five to as many as ten in number. 



The common musk-shrew (C. suaveolens), of which a figure is given above, 

 is the second representative of the genus Croddura in Europe. It belongs to a 

 group characterized by the presence of four small conical teeth, of which the hind- 

 most is very minute, behind the first upper incisor tooth.* This group, which is 



*In the figure of the jaw of a true shrew (Sorex) on p. 327 there are five of these small teeth 



