244 



below pale grey or white ; fur slaty at the base throughout ; upper 

 surface of tail darker than the lower. 



Dimensions of an adult Ladak female : snout to vent 2*1 inches, 

 tail 1-5, hind foot 0'5, extreme length of skull 0-75. 



Distribution. Central and Southern Europe, Northern Africa, 

 and Central Asia, extending to North-eastern Siberia. It has been 

 obtained in Ladak. 



Habits. In Europe this shrew is commonly found about cultivated 

 ground and is often met with in houses. It lives on insects, 

 worms, young mammals of small size, and young birds, .and will 

 eat meat and fat. It has from 5 to 10 young, which are born in 

 summer, and which attain their full growth in about 6 weeks. 



Sorex kelaarti, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 32 ; Cat. Mam. p. 84 

 (Crocidura kelaarti, Anderson, Cat. Mam. p. 200), is founded, 

 Mr. Dobson informs me, on a very young female, with the teeth 

 imperfectly grown, although the inguinal teats are fully developed. 

 Despite the circumstance that there are but 28 teeth, this shrew may 

 be a young specimen of C. murina. The small premolars are 

 wanting in a half-grown skull of that species from Darjiling. 



Genus ANUROSOREX, A. Milne-Edwards (1870). 

 Syn. Pygmura, Anderson (1873). 



Head large in proportion to the body. Eyes very small. No 

 external ear-conch ; ears valvular. Feet short, scaly. Tail very 

 short, naked, and scaly. Fur dense, velvety. 



Teeth entirely white ; there are 14 in the upper jaw, only two 

 conical teeth lying between the upper anterior incisor and the 

 single multicuspidate premolar on each side : i. ~|, c. ^p, pm. J-^ 

 m. g=26. 



A full description of the skull and skeleton is given by Anderson 

 (An. Zool. Ees. p. 151). The structure of the pelvis shows some 

 resemblance to that of Talpa. 



Two species are known, one of which occurs in Assam. 



130. Anurosorex assaxnensis. The Assam short-tailed Shrew. 



Anurosorex assamensis, Anderson, A. M. N. H. 1875, ser. 4, xvi, 

 p. 282 ; Anat. Zool. Res. p. 150, pi. v, figs. 1-16 (skeleton ) ; id. 

 Cat. p. 171. 



Snout semi-nude. Feet naked, scaly, the hind foot from the 

 heel 1 times the length of the fore foot from the wrist. Tail 

 about one-sixth the length of the head and body, naked and 

 scaly. Numerous thicker hairs project beyond the velvety fur, 

 which is nearly erect on the skin (as in moles), and is longest on 

 the rump, so as to conceal the greater part of the tail. 



The skull is nearly half as long as the vertebral column from the 

 atlas to the end of the sacral vertebrae. There is a distinct inner 



