122 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Order INSECTIVORA: Insectivores 



Family SORICIDAE: Shrews 



This family is nearly cosmopolitan in distribution but is absent 

 in the Australian region (including New Guinea). There are about 

 25 genera and several hundred species and subspecies. They are 

 animals of generally small size and secretive habits. A single form 

 is considered extinct. 



Christinas Island Musk-shrew 



CROCIDURA FULIGINOSA TRICHURA Dobson 



Crocidura juliginosa, var. trichura Dobson, in Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lon- 

 don 1888, p. 532, 1889. (Christmas Island, eastern Indian Ocean.) 



This is described as a small shrew, with skull and teeth closely 

 like those of the species C. fuliginosa of the mainland (Assam, 

 Tenasserim, and Malay Peninsula) . Dobson differentiated it mainly 

 on the basis of a longer tail, beset with long fine hairs, but later 

 collections showed that the tail as recorded by Dobson for his speci- 

 men (80 mm.) was much longer than the average of 10 other speci- 

 mens for which C. W. Andrews (1900) gives measurements. The 

 color is not described but is doubtless, like that of the related form, 

 of a dark gray. According to Andrews, the well-haired tail is the 

 best character. Measurements: head and body, 65-82 mm.; tail, 

 63-75 mm.; hind foot, 13-17 mm. 



The original specimen was brought back to the British Museum 

 by the surveying-ship Flying-fish under command of Captain 

 Maclear in 1886. Later, in 1897, a number of additional specimens 

 were secured by Andrews (1900), who lists measurements in his 

 Monograph of Christmas Island, and remarks: "This little animal is 

 extremely common all over the island, and at night its shrill squeak, 

 like the cry of a bat, can be heard on all sides. It lives in holes in 

 rocks and roots of trees, and seems to feed mainly on small beetles." 

 In 1908, Dr. Andrews again visited the island, to see what changes 

 had taken place with the establishment of a settlement, clearing, 

 and agriculture, since 1897. He found (1909, p. 102) that the shrew 

 "is probably also extinct, at least no specimen was either seen or 

 heard during my visit." He implies that this may have been due in 

 part to cats, which had been introduced and had become numerous. 

 However, cats would seem hardly sufficient to account for the ex- 

 termination of a shrew, which they will kill but seldom care to eat. 

 It may be that agricultural use of the land has reduced the numbers 

 of the shrew about the settlement at Flyingfish Cove; nevertheless a 

 careful search with modern collecting methods might still reveal the 

 animal's presence. On the other hand, if it is actually gone, one 



