amongst Insectivorous and Curnivoroas Mammals. I't'd 



squealin(j as they <jo . . . . It' they \y^ left uiunolesteil, tliey 

 are quite inoffensive .... hut if they he in any way alarmed 

 or disturhcd during their progress, the air is forthwith Ji/led 

 hy an intohrahle smell of musk that adheres persistently to 

 everything that they may come in contact witli. It seems to 

 be as ofionsive to most clogs as to human beiiig.^, and is 

 (lonljtiess a most effectively protective agent. Many dogs, 

 although eager to pursue musk-shrews, ahsolutely refuse to 

 touch them, and those who cannot resist doing so in the 

 excitement of the chase show unequivocal signs of disgust 

 and sliame over the consequences." 



This account, he it observed, was written by a liighly 

 competent naturalist, bent on describing, without cmbellish- 

 mei:t, hypothesis, or explanation, the habits ot" a familiar 

 Indian animal ; and it contains no suggestion that the writer 

 was familiar with theory of animal advertisement. Yet the 

 passages I have italicised supply all tbe facts necessary for 

 the belief that the shrews in question are protected self- 

 advertisers. They emit an intolerable stench when disturbed 

 or alarmed ; are abiiorrent to many dogs ; are tearless in 

 their behaviour; constantly utter shrill cries as they move 

 about ; and are conspicuous in the dusk. In other words, we 

 liave in this species distastefulness associated with fearless- 

 ness of exposure and with advertising attributes that apjieal 

 to the sight, hearing, and scent of possible enemies. 



Judging from the analogy suj)[»lied by the porcupines, I 

 long ago inferred that hedgeluigs with their protective 

 armature of banded spines arc coloured so as to be con- 

 spicuous in the dusk. It is, indeed, a matter of common 

 knowledge that they are comparatively easy to see at night 

 on account of their colour and easy to catch on account of their 

 habit, when touched, of stopping to roll up, instead of attemp- 

 ting to run away like all unprotected mammalia. 



Evidence that they sometimes produce a violently offensive 

 smell is supplied by Mr. (J. B. ^Joffat, who informed Major 

 Barrett-IIamilton that he put a hedgeiiog into a water-butt to 

 see it swim. " Immediately on finding itself in the water, 

 the animal tilled the whole surrounding air with an eflBuvium 

 so awful that I had to run back five or six yards to find an 

 atmosphere I could breathe .... I am not morbidly sensitive 

 to odours, but this experience beat anything on the part of a 

 live animal that I had ever encountered before or since .... 

 A fairly strong odour is sometimes produced when hedge- 

 hogs are fighting at night, but this is nothing whatever to 

 the stench made by the animal that I put in water .... 

 It puts a good deal of trust in its own immunity from attack, 



