530 MUSK SHREW. 



substance about the quantity of a scruple may, it 

 is said, be obtained from each animal.. 



These creatures are said sometimes to be seen 

 swimming about in considerable numbers on the 

 surface of lakes and rivers, and may often be 

 heard to snap their mouths with a sound not un- 

 like that of a duck ; feeding on worms, leeches, 

 water insects, &c. as well as occasionally on vege- 

 table substances. 



In some particulars this animal makes a dis- 

 tant approach to that most singular of quadru- 

 peds, the Platypus. It may also be added, that 

 the Platypus, if considered merely with regard to 

 external habit, and without reference to its gene- 

 ric character, might, perhaps, with almost equal 

 propriety be placed in the present order as in that 

 of B?*uta, did not its want of teeth lead us to 

 place it with the rest of the edentulous or tooth- 

 less quadrupeds, viz. the Ant-Eaters and the Pan- 

 golins. 



The Musk Shrew is a slow-paced animal, and 

 easily taken, if accidentally found on land. The 

 skins are said to be sold in Russia to put into 

 chests in order to drive away moths, and so com- 

 mon is the animal in the neighbourhood of Nizney 

 Novogorod, that the peasants are said bring five 

 hundred apiece to market, where they are sold 

 for a ruble per hundred. 



In the twelfth edition of the Systema Naturae 

 this animal is placed in the genus Castor or Bea- 

 ver, und er the title of Castor moschatus. 



