236 SOEICID.E. 



Habits. The brown musk shrew is chiefly found in woods, but 

 occasionally enters houses, and specimens have been captured about 

 stables and similar buildings in some of the Himalayan stations. 

 The musky smell, although very strong in adults, is not, as a rule, 

 so powerful and offensive as that of C. ccerulea. The food consists 

 of various insects, larvae, worms, and probably of any smaller 

 mammal or bird. I have taken one in a rat-trap baited with meat. 



The natives in parts of India regard this shrew as poisonous, 

 but there is no foundation for the belief. 



118. Crocidura caerulea. The grey musk Shrew. 



Sorex camileus, Kerr, An. King. p. 207 (1792). 



Sorex pilorides, Shaw, Mm. Lever, ii. p. 31 (1796), nee Mus pilorides, 



Pallas. 

 Sorex cferulescens, Shaw, Gen. Zool. i, p. 533 (1800) ; Blyth, J.A. S. B. 



xxiv, p. 25 ; id. Cat. p. 82 ; Jet-don, Mam. p. 58. 

 Sorex indicus and capensis, Geoffr, Ann. du Mus. xvii, pp. 183, 184 



(1811). 

 Sorex sonneratii and giganteus, Is. Geoffr. Mem. du Mus. xv, pp. 132, 



137 (1827). 



Sorex myosurus, Gray $ Hardw. 111. Ind. Zool. i, pi. ix, nee Pallas. 

 Sorex murinus, Hodyson, A. M. N. H. (1) xv, p. 269 (1845) ; Re- 



laart, Prod. p. 30, nee L. 

 Crocidura (Pachyura) waldemarii, ceylanica, and media, Peters, MB. 



Ak. Berl. 1870, pp. 590, 591, 592. 

 Crocidura (Pachyura)fulvo-cinereao?z^smdensis, Anderson,J.A. S.B. 



xlvi, pt. 2, pp. 203, 266. 

 Crocidura caerulescens and beddomei, Anderson, Cat. pp. 171, 179. 



Chachtmdar, H. ; Chiindi, Kol ; Sondeli, Can. ; Eandeli, Mai. ; Kune- 

 miyo, Cingalese ; Anachiwa-gayur, Kashmiri 5 Kywek-tsiit, Eurinet-e ; 

 Musk-rat, of Anglo-Indians. 



Upper teeth 18. This, the common musk shrew (or, as it is 

 usually called, musk-rat) of India, only differs from C. murina in 

 larger size and in coloration, and it is very doubtful if either of 

 these distinctions is constant. The fur is short, the tail thick at 

 the base, and both it and the feet very thinly clad with hair, a few 

 scattered longer hairs on the tail. 



Colour us.ually bluish grey, paler below, the fur sometimes with 

 ferruginous brown tips, especially on the hinder part of the back. 

 Occasionally specimens are found of a rufous-fawn tint above, grey 

 below. Young specimens are dark slate-grey. Skin of the snout, 

 ears, feet, and tail flesh-coloured, and hairs on the feet and tail 

 white or nearly white. 



Dimensions. A full-grown male measures about 6 inches from 

 nose to vent, tail 3'5, hind foot 1, basal length of skull 1-4. 

 Females are considerably smaller in general. A very large male 

 measured about 7 inches from snout to vent, tail 5|. The tail 

 varies in length considerably. 



Varieties. Anderson classes as distinct varieties the form origin- 

 ally named by him C. sindensis, which is smaller than the typical 



