232 SORICID&. . - 



inwards. The secretion has a strong smell of musk and appears to 

 be produced in much greater abundance during the rutting-season. 

 In some of the smaller Crocidurce, indeed, the gland cannot be de- 

 tected at other times. 



The genito-urinary and anal orifices both open into a shallow 

 cloaca. There are 6 mammse, all inguinal, and situated very far 



Fig. 6i. Skull of Crocidura murina. 



back. The sexes are often very difficult to distinguish if the 

 mammae are not developed, the male organ being retractile and the 

 testes internal. The teeth are white throughout, the total number 

 28 or 30 : i. g, c. ^ pm. l ~\^~ 2 , m. g. The anterior 

 incisors are strongly hooked and have a basal cusp of moderate 

 size ; the next incisor on each side is larger than the two or three 

 following teeth, the first two of which, the third incisor and the 

 canine, do not differ greatly in size : whilst the anterior premolar is 

 small in some species (Pachyurci), absent in others (Crocidura,) 

 when present it is the smallest tooth in the jaw. All the teeth 

 enumerated are conical except the first. The second premolar is 

 a broad tooth with several cusps, and approaches tbe molars in 

 shape. 



This genus is widely spread in Asia, Africa, and Europe, and 

 has several representatives in India, but the species are very 

 variable and difficult to discriminate. One principal reason, besides 

 variability, for the large number of nominal species in this genus 

 lies in the fact that it is frequently impossible by external charac- 

 ters, and even by an examination of the teeth, to ascertain whether 

 individuals are adult. The teeth are fully Developed and the 

 animals breed freely long before they attain their full growth. 

 Most of the sutures of the skull, too, are anchylosed at an early 

 age, the premaxillary suture (which in most mammals does not 

 disappear before maturity) being closed in shrews at birth or very 

 soon after. The best test of full growth in a shrew's skull is the 

 anchylosis of the basi-occipital suture, lying just between the 

 annular bulla? ; the epiphyses of the limb-bones, too, would doubt- 

 less serve to show whether an animal is mature or not. 



