SOEICID.i 



-MAMMALIA.- 



black, and also of a yellow tinge towards the region of 

 the throat. The snout is compressed, the eyes and 

 ears are small, the latter being bordered by a fringe of 

 whitish-coloured hairs. The teeth exhibit a rusty or 

 chestnut hue at their tips a peculiarity, however, not 

 confined to any particular species. Like the water 

 shrew, its habits are essentially aquatic. 



THE INDIAN SHEEW (Sorex indicus). Though in 

 general appearance tin's species closely resembles the 

 common shrew, the size at once distinguishes it, being 

 in this respect equal to our common brown rat. In 

 virtue of a very strong musky odour, it imparts a pecu- 

 liarly nauseous smell to every thing with which it 

 may happen to come in contact. Some of the stories 

 told of its powers of communicating odoriferous pro- 

 perties to particular objects, appear to be rather 

 exaggerated. For example, we are informed that wine 

 in a properly-closed bottle will become impregnated 

 with a musky flavour, merely by the circumstance of 

 this animal's passing over the exterior surface of the 

 glass ! Surely this savours a little of the imaginative. 

 At all events, the little beast enjoys an unenviable 

 credit on this score. It is better known by the name 

 of the Indian musk rat. 



THE AMERICAN MAESH SHBEW (Sorex palustris) . 

 This species is principally marked by the possession 

 of an unusually long tail, combined with very short 

 hairy ears which lie entirely concealed beneath the 

 fur. The hairy covering exhibits a hoary black colour, 

 except on the belly, where it is lighter and of an ash^ 

 grey tint, the texture throughout beirjg dense, soft, and 

 lustrous. The teeth are thirty in number; that is, 

 four incisors and twenty-six molars. Sir John Rich- 

 ardson was the first to describe this shrew, and he 

 obtained several specimens in British America during 

 his explorations with the expedition under Sir John 

 Franklin. With regard to its habits, he says that it 

 " lives in the summer on similar food with the water 

 shrew, but," he adds, " I am at a loss to imagine how it 

 procures a subsistence during the six months of the 

 year in which the countries it inhabits are covered 

 with snow. It frequents the borders of lakes, and 

 Hearne tells us that it often takes up its abode in beaver 

 houses." The length of the body, not including the 

 tail, is precisely three and a half inches. 



FOESTEB'S SHEEW (Sorex Forsten) The shrew 

 thus named appears to have been first noticed by For- 

 ster, and described by him in the sixty-second volume 

 of the Philosophical Transactions. It resembles the 

 oared shrew in respect of the quadrangular form of the 

 tail, and in some other minor particulars. The length 

 of the body is about two and a quarter inches. It is 

 armed with thirty-two teeth, four being incisors and ; 

 the remainder true and false molars. The snout is j 

 much attenuated ; the whiskers are conspicuous, and j 

 the ears completely enveloped by the fur. The author | 

 of the "Fauna Boreali Americani," speaks of it as fol- j 

 lows : " This little animal is common throughout the ! 

 whole of the fur countries to the sixty-seventh degree . 

 of latitude, and its minute foot-prints are seen every- j 

 where in the winter when the snow is sufficiently fine 

 to retain the impression. I have often traced its 

 pathway to a stalk of grass by which it appears to 



descend from the surface of the snow ; but a search 

 for its habitation by removing the snow was invariably 

 fruitless. I was unable to procure a recent specimen.'' 

 And further on he says "It is the smallest quadruped 

 the Indians are acquainted with, and they preserve 

 skins of it in their conjuring bags. The power of 

 generating heat must be very great in this diminutive 

 creature, to preserve its tender limbs from freezing 

 when the temperature sinks forty or fifty degrees below 

 zero." 



SAVTS SHEEW (Sorex etruscus). To the general 

 observer of nature, the distinctions established between 

 the numerous species of shrew may not at first sight 

 appear very satisfactory, and it is partly on this account 

 that we find it necessary to confine our attention to the 

 more striking or better known forms. There is a little 

 North American form, emphatically called the small 

 shrew-mouse the Sorex parvus of Say and Richard 

 son which is only two inches and three-quarters in 

 length; but this specific title might perhaps with greater 

 propriety be applied to the species under consideration ; 

 for Savi's shrew js not only believed to be the smallest 

 in existence, but it is probably the tiniest of all 

 living quadrupeds, excepting, of course, those which 

 have not attained their adult or fully developed state. 

 The body of Say's small shrew measures two inches 

 and three-quarters, without reckoning the tail ; whereas 

 the little Sorex etruscus scarcely exceeds two inches 

 and a half, two entire fifths of which measurement 

 belong to the caudal appendage. It is an inhabitant 

 of Italy and the northern coasts of Africa. Notwith- 

 standing what we have here advanced, it will doubtless 

 occur to our readers that some of the bats scarcely 

 exceed this animal in length ; although, if placed side 

 by side with the pipistrelle, this bat would appear in 

 all likelihood comparatively bulky. 



THE BTJLATJ (Gymnura Rafflesii). The members 

 of this and the two following genera offer such pecu- 

 liarities as scarcely to entitle us to classify them with 

 the Soricidse, properly so called ; and on the one hand, 

 they neither sufficiently agree in their respective char- 

 acters, so as to enable our associating them together 

 under a separate family title, nor, on the other, are 

 they clearly referable to the Tupaiadce ; yet, as they 

 exhibit characters of a very mixed kind, we cannot at 

 present, perhaps, do better than briefly record them 

 in the order here adopted. The head of the bulau is 

 much elongated and compressed from side to side, the 

 muzzle being proboscidiform, obtuse at the tip, and 

 continued forward a considerable distance beyond the 

 lower jaw. The eyes are rather small, and the ears 

 rounded, conspicuous, and naked. The bod} 7 is stoutish 

 posteriorly, and terminates in a long, smooth, scaly 

 tail which supports a few thinly scattered hairs. 

 The mass of the fur is soft ; but from beneath this 

 downy covering there projects a multitude of long 

 harsh, bristle-like hairs, which are particularly numer- 

 ous along the back. The lirnbs are well developed, 

 and terminate in plantigrade pentadactylous feet, having 

 the three middle toes longer than the other digits. 

 The jaws are armed with forty-four teeth, which Pro- 

 fessor Owen has divided into twelve incisives, four 

 canines, sixteen false, and twelve true molars. They 



