146 ORDER IV. 



cate galleries, generally beneath some overhanging 

 bank, from whence an aditum is contrived, free 

 from obstacles and leading direct to the water. 



The Sorex araneus, or Continental Shrew. Does 

 not seem to inhabit Great Britain ; and, among the 

 very small species, may be enumerated S. etruscus 

 of Savi ; S. parvus, or small shrew of Richardson ; 

 S. minimus of Pallas ; S. exilis of Pennant, found 

 in Siberia, and probably the smallest of all ; and one 

 species, the giant among shrews, is the East Indian, 

 S. gigantem of Isid. Geoffroy, above six inches long, 

 exclusive of tail, which is nearly four inches. Mr. 

 Pennant mentions a tailless shrew, S. minutus^ 

 which seems to belong to the new genus MACROCE- 

 LIDES, or long-snouted shrews, of which there are 

 two species,* both from Barbary, and lead to the 

 Tenrecs. Here may be placed the new 



Genus SOLENODON of Brandt Formed upon the 

 Sol. paradoxuS) brought from Hayti, but not as yet 

 distinctly characterized. 



In the next, we find the fur gradually passing 

 from a bristly to a spinous character, forming a 

 small group of animals, which have a kind of coun- 

 terpart in a similar group of rodents. 



Genus CENTENES, Illig. The Tenrecs. Dent. 



* There existed besides, in antiquity, a species of Sorex, no 

 doubt held sacred by the Egyptians, since Mr. Olivier dis- 

 covered their remains preserved, or mummified, like those of 

 the Ibis, in the catacombs of Sakkara ; but the species is not 

 at present known to science ; the head alone being above an 

 inch in length, and the fur rufous. 



