] 2 Mr. E. Blyth on the Indian species of Shrews. 



are large and strongly hooked, and much longer than their pos- 

 terior spur ; while the inferior have rarely so much as a trace of 

 a serrated upper edge : of four upper premolars anterior to the 

 carnassier, the first is large, the second and third are much 

 smaller, the fourth is diminutive, and the third exceeds the 

 second. This group of Shrews is familiarly exemplified by the 

 common large Musk Shrews of Asia and Africa, and constitutes 

 the restricted Sorex, L. (v. Pachijura, De Selys Longchamps*). 



The Indian species are as follow^s : — 



1. S. c.EBULESCENS, Shaw ; S. pilorides, Shaw; S. giganteus, 

 Is. Geoffroy ; S. murinus, L., apud Gray : figured in Hardwicke's 

 111. Ind. Zool. as S. myosurus, Pallas ; whence probably S. myo- 

 surus, apud "Walker, in Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. iii. 255. The 

 common Musk Shrew, or {vulgo) ' Musk Rat,' of Bengal, &c. 

 (but different from the ' Musk Rat ' or Muskquash — Fiber zi- 

 BETHicus of North America, which is a rodent nearly affined to 

 the Voles — Arvicola). 



This animal is described by Mr. Hodgson in the Ann. & Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. XV. 269 (1845) ; but the length of the tail (as given), 

 3^ in., is possibly a misprint for 3| or 3^ in., or more than half 

 the length of the head and body, which is given as 6 in. Num- 

 ber of caudal vertebrse 24. Total length of skull of adult male, 

 with front teeth in situbus, somewhat exceeding If in. ; of female, 

 somewhat under greatest breadth of skull of former, \\ in. ; of 

 latter | in. Colour uniform pale grey, slightly tinged with fer- 

 ruginous, and more conspicuously on the lower parts ; the naked 

 parts iiesh-coloured. 



This is the common large Musk Shi-ew of Bengal, Nepal, and 

 we believe the valley of Asam ; becoming rare in Sylhet, and 

 wholly disappearing in Arakan. In Nepal Mr. Hodgson styles 



* Certain small species of temperate climates were detached by Wagler 

 from the ordinary Shrews of those climates (with piceous-tipped teeth, &c.) 

 by the name of Crocidura (v. Suncus, Ehrenberg, apud Gray), e. g. 

 S. ARANECS, S. LEUCODOX, S. ETRUSCUS, &c. ; but wc are not aware that 

 these are separable from the above, and certainly the various Pigmy 

 Shrews of India ai'e typical Sorices. except that some only of them want 

 the odoriferous glands on the sides of the body. 



N.B. In the ' Report on the Quachupeds of Massachusetts,' pubhshed by 

 the Government Commissioners of the Zoological and Botanical Survey of 

 the State (1840), the extraordinary statement is made by Mr. E. Emmons, 

 that " la the specimens of Sorex which have fallen under my observation, 

 I have not been able to discover, even with the microscope, any nostrils, 

 the termination (or extremity) of the nose being apparently an imperforate 

 membrane." Upon reading this we examined several species (large and 

 small) preserved in spirit, and easily detected a lateral valvular orifice, 

 which, on pressure of the snout above, was showu to be perforate, by the 

 fluid oozins through. Could Mr. Emmons have tried so simple an expe- 

 riment ? 



