38 HOURS WITH NATURE. 



to the word " Mole " with " Chhuncha " in Bengali 

 opposite it. 



This happened twenty years ago. As, however, our 

 knowledge of Natural History does not appear to have 

 much advanced, it may not be amiss to give here a brief 

 account of moles and shrews. The shrews are small ani- 

 mals. The body is covered with soft hair ; the head is long, 

 and the pointed snout projects beyond the lower lip. 

 All the animals of this family have small eyes. They are 

 often popularly confounded with rats, but a moment's 

 observation will show that the latter have no pointed 

 nose or rounded ears resembling the human ear in shape. 

 The form, number, and arrangement of teeth in shrews 

 greatly differ from those in rats or other animals of the 

 rodent family. Students interested in seeing and learn- 

 ing the difference of dentition in rats and shrews will do 

 well to visit some museum, where skeletons of various 

 kinds of animals are arranged in cases for the inspection 

 and instruction of visitors. 



The shrews have a wide range of distribution, being 

 found in the temperate and tropical regions of Europe, 

 Asia, Africa, and North America. 



There are various species of shrews of which 

 THE GREY MUSK SHREW \Crocidura ccerutea(Ken)] 

 is common all over India. It is the Musk shrew of 

 the Anglo-Indians, Chhuncha of the Bengalis, and 

 chhuchandar of the up-country Hindustanis ; and it enjoys 

 several other local names. That the animal is held in 

 bad repute in India is evident from the fact that 



