52 SORECID^E. 



upper canine and the scisssor- tooth ; and the short tail is clad and 

 tufted with white hairs. A species from Japan, T. mogura, is described 

 by Temminck, and there are two in Europe, T. europcea, and T. cceca, of 

 Italy and Greece. 



A writer in the Bengal Sporting Review (the Rev. H. Baker) sus- 

 pects the presence of moles on the Neelgherry hills, having found muti- 

 lated remains of what he took to be such. This conjecture has not to my 

 knowledge been verified, and I much doubt their existence on those hills. 



In Condylura, a North American genus of moles, there is a peculiar 

 star of moveable cartilaginous filaments at the end of the snout, and the 

 tail is longer than in Talpa. The shrew-moles, Scalops, also from North 

 America, chiefly differ from true moles by their teeth. Urotrichus tal- 

 poides is a Japanese mole, with a moderate hairy tail ; and a second 

 species of this genus has been quite recently discovered in North America. 



The African or Cape moles, have been by some classed as a distinct 

 group, Chrysochlorince. They have two incisors above, and four below ; 

 and their fur has a peculiar metallic lustre, hence called Golden Moles. 

 They have no external ears nor eyes, and want the tail. 



Fam. SORECID^E, Shrews. 



Body, covered with soft hair. Eyes, small but distinct. External 

 ears in most, generally small. Muzzle, elongated. Fore feet, of ordinary 

 form. . 



The Shrews comprise a large number of small animals, which, from 

 their general appearance and nocturnal habits, are popularly confounded 

 with rats and mice. The two middle incisors above are large and hooked, 

 the lower ones are slanting and lengthened, and these are followed by 

 several smaller ones. There is a tuberculous tooth in the upper jaw, 

 and three cuspidated molars in each jaw. The feet are pentadactylous, 

 the toes well cloven, and the tail of moderate length, more or less naked, 

 or thinly clad with hairs. The snout is lengthened, pointed, and very 

 mobile. On each side of the body in certain species there is a gland 

 under the skin surrounded by a circlet of short hairs, which secretes 

 a fluid of the odour of musk. It exists in both sexes, and appears to be 

 more developed at certain periods. During the day shrews remain con- 

 cealed in drains or holes, dark outhouses, under boxes, mats, &c., and 

 those that dwell in forests, under stones or in holes under trees. At 

 nightfall they sally forth, and hunt for their food, which is chiefly insects. 



