8ORICID.E. 227 



Tipper preinolafs only three (so that there are six teeth only 

 behind the caiiine instead of seven as in the other moles), third 

 with a large internal basal process. In the lower jaw the second 

 and third premolars are small and very closely packed, the fourth 

 is equal in size to the first. 



Colour uniform, brown in all skins I have examined, but de- 

 scribed as black by Anderson, perhaps variable. Basal portion of 

 fur leaden black. Tail-hairs whitish or white. 



Dimensions. An adult female in spirit measured : head and body 

 4g inches, tail |. Total length of skull 1-2 inches, basal length 1. 



Distribution. Sylhet and the Khasi and Naga hills, south of 

 Assam ; found up to 10,000 feet above the sea. This species was 

 also obtained by Major Berdmore in the valley of the Sittoung 

 river, near Shwegyeng, and probably exists in places throughout 

 Burma. 



Nothing is known of the habits of this mole. 



Some years since, the Eev. H. Baker found black velvet-coated 

 animals that he took for moles in Malabar (J. A. S. B. xxviii, 

 p. 280) ; but although it is difficult to say what they were, espe- 

 cially as the feet were mole-like, the coloration (black above, white 

 below) is remarkable in the genus Talpa. No animal hitherto 

 described from Malabar coincides with Mr. Baker's description. 



Two remarkable genera of Talpidce, each represented by a single 

 species Scaptonyx fuscicaudatus * and Uropsilus soricipes t have 

 been described from Eastern Tibet by A. Milne-Edwards. The 

 first is about the size of a common mole, but with narrower fore 

 feet, the colour is brown. The second is smaller, and has the feet 

 of a shrew, whilst its dentition is somewhat intermediate between 

 a shrew's and a mole's. 



Other Asiatic genera are Myorjale^ Scaptocldrus, and Urotrichus. 



Family SORICID^. 



Terrestrial, rarely natatorial Insectivora, with narrow elongated 

 skulls, without postorbital processes or zygomatic arches. The 

 tympanics are annular, not forming bullae ; there is no symphysis 

 pubis t, the tibia and fibula are united ; and the molars have well- 

 developed W-shaped cusps. (Dobson.) 



All shrews are covered with hair, generally very soft ; the head 

 is long, the eyes small, the snout very pointed and projecting very 

 considerably beyond the lower lip ; the ear-concb, when present, 

 rounded and somewhat resembling the human ear in shape. The 

 pointed nose, rounded appressed ears, and the teeth at once 

 distinguish shrews from rats and mice, with which the former are 

 often popularly confounded. 



The dentition is characteristic of the family. Dobsori has 



* Eecherches Mam. p. 278, pi. 38 B, fig. 4, and pi. 40 B, fig. 2. 

 t Ibid. p. 272, pi. 40, fig. 1, and pi. 40 A, fig. 1. . 



\ Anderson describes Anurosorcx as having a short sympnysis pub 



