INSECTIVOROUS MAMMALS. 57 



it in a coating of mud and baking it in the embers of a wood fire. When 

 done the spines, hair and skin adhere to the clay, leaving a very tooth- 

 some morsel of beautifully cooked meat. 



In Chihli hedgehogs are looked upon as sacred animals by the 

 Chinese, and so are not molested. On the contrary, little shrines 

 are often built for them. 



In the matter of shrews these provinces are excessively poorly 

 represented, at least very few specimens have been recorded. In Chihli 

 two species have been found. These are Corcidura coreoe and Chod- 

 sigoa hypsibia. Members of the genus Crocidura may easily by recog- 

 nized from the fact that the tails, besides having the usual covering 

 of very short hairs, also have a sprinkling of long stiff ones. The other 

 genera of shrews have only the short hairs. The Crocidurce are further 

 distinguishable by the presence of glands, one on each side of the body, 

 which are more or less odoriferous and probably give these animals their 

 name of musk shrews. 



THE MUSKSHREW (Crocidura coreae'). 



Crocidura coreae as yet has not been definitely located in any 

 other part of North China than Chihli, in which province a specimen 

 was taken at the Eastern Tombs. It was originally described from 

 Corea. Three young shrews secured by me in Shansi have been re- 

 ferred to this species, but their age render the diagnosis uncertain. 

 My specimens were of a distinct slate-grey, while C. coreae was describ- 

 ed as greyish-brown. Age would of course account for this difference. 



Chodsigoa hypsibia was originally described as Soriculus hypsibia 

 from North-western Szechuan. Whether a shrew, the remains of 

 which I found on a rock in West Shansi is referrable to this species 

 or not I could not say. They were too far decomposed to preserve. 



In the extreme south-western portion of Kansu, bordering the 

 richly faunistic area of Western Szechuan, Milne-Edwards' little shrew 

 Crocidura attenuata occurs, having been but recently recorded. Here 

 also a new species belonging to the genus Sorex has been discovered 

 recently. This is Sorex wardi, which was named in honour of its 

 s 8 



