MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 43 



are purely nocturnal. I have found only three nests of them. 

 They have four young at a time, which they nurse and care for 

 most affectionately. I had a family of them and fed them a 

 week where I could observe all their actions. I had a father 

 and mother and their half grown offspring. The male made 

 his escape, and finding a newly married pair they do marry, 

 and as far as I can learn, stick together as long ss they live 



I put them in a box with my half civilized family. The male 

 instantly caught a young one and was aiming to kill it, when I 

 put him and his companion into an empty oyster can, and set- 

 ting it back in the box, went to supper. When I returned I 

 found that the ferocious, rascally male had made shift to get 

 out of the can, and had murdered all the young ones." 



*FAMILY SORICID^. 



Animals intermediate bet weens the moles and hedge -hogs, 

 and characterized by attenuated movable snout, plantigrade, 

 hairless soles, abscence of zygoma, and imperfect auditory cap- 



*The following brief review of the described species may assist the student in 

 securing a fuller knowledge of the groups than can be given here. 



1. Genus Gymnura. A single species (G. refflesii) is as large as a large squirrel, and has 



a long snout, short tail and small ears, retractile claws and wooly hair. This 

 interesting species inhabits the Sunda and adjacent islands. 



2. Genus Pardoxodon is represented by a pigmy, not two inches long, from Bengal. 



3. Genus Pachyura. A large genus of shrew-like animals, some of which are over ten 



inches long, others less than two, living in India, southern Europe, Madagascar 

 and Egypt. Specimens of the Egyptian species have been found mummied in the 

 tombs. Nearly thirty species have been described, many of which are synonyms. 



4. Genus Crocidura. Some twenty-five nominal species are distributed from the cape 



of Good Hope to India, Ceylon and Japan. C. aranea is a common species in 

 Europe, often entering houses, and having much the aspect of a small mouse. 



5. Genus Diplornesodon. A single species of minute size and peculiar coloration, inhab- 



its the sandy steppes of Kirgisen. 



6. Genus Feroculus. A somewhat doubtful genus, founded on a single collection made 



In Ceylon, and intermediate between Crocidura and Myoxorex. 



7. Genus Mysorex. Small shrews, with the ears entirely concealed, living in South 



Africa. 



8. Genus Sorex. The type of the family is found in Europe and America, though it is 



customary to separate the species into subgenera, or even different genera, to 

 correspond with the difference in habitat. The genus seems, however, to be 

 circumpolar. 



9. Genus Blarina. North American, with but one well authenticated species, though 



many have been found. 

 10. Genus Soriculus. A single Indian species, with but thirty teeth. 



II Genus Crossopus. This genus of aquatic shrews is circumpolar, although the North 



American species has been separated as a distinct genus, Neosorex. Two or more 

 extremely variable species are rather common in Europe, and others in Asia to 

 Japan. 



12. Genus Solenodon contains the curious rat-like S. paradoxus of Cuba. 



13. Genus Myogale contains aquatic forms, with vertically flattened tails. Some species 



are upwards of ten inches long, with a tail nearly as long again. Europe and 

 Asia are the habitat of these musk-shrews. 



Sines writing the above a new genus and species of shrew has been brought to our 

 notice by C. Hart Merriam: Genus atophyrax. A. hendirii Mer. is from Klamath 



