THE BRITISH MAMMALS ! THEIR GENERA AND SPECIES. 33 



Crossopus. Plate iv. INSECTIVORA. 



20. fodiens, WATER SHREW. Tail and feet fringed with whitt 

 hairs. 



The teeth of the Water Shrew are tipped with reddish brown . 

 when young, and become quite white in old age. There are only 

 thirty of them, those in the upper jaw being three incisors, a canine, 

 two premolars and three molars, the lower jaw having only six, 

 there being no canine, and only one premolar and two incisors. 

 The front incisors project, the upper ones being somewhat hooked, 

 and the lower pair straight, the skull, as in the land shrews, being 

 long and narrow, though the muzzle is broader and flatter. The 

 colour varies, but is generally blackish above and whitish below. 



WATER SHREW. 

 (Crossopus fodiens.) 



In length the head and body measure rather more than three inches, 

 the tail being about two-thirds as long. The Water Shrew is quite 

 aquatic in habits, and seems to feed on almost everything small in 

 the animal way, including young fishes and dead birds. It lives in 

 long, winding burrows in the banks of streams and ponds, and in a 

 bed of herbage in the burrow brings forth and rears its family of 

 half-a-dozen or more young ones. It is fairly well distributed over 

 England and Scotland, but is not met with in the islands or in 

 Ireland, and it ranges through Europe into Northern Asia. 



Cystophora. Plate ix. CARNIVORA. 



34. cnstatus, HOODED SEAL. Webs of hind feet projecting bayond 

 toes ; first and fifth toes longest. 



The male of this species is characterised by the large inflatable 

 sac on the nose, which is absent in the female. The female is a foot 

 shorter than the male, who may measure nine feet or more. The colour 

 is grey, boldly spotted with grey, the greys being of almost any 

 shade ; the underparts are paler in colour and without spots. There 

 is an incisor less in each jaw than in the other British seals, the denti- 

 tion being two incisors, a canine, four premolars, and a molar in the 

 upper jaw, and an incisor, a canine, four premolars, and a molar in the 

 lower. The teeth are small, all, except the molars, having but one 

 root- This is $n Arctic species rarely found in British waters. It 



