140 PARTIAL WATER TRESPASSERS. 



THE DAESMAN (Galemys Pyrenaica). 



In some parts of Russia and France there are found 

 some curious animals allied to our water shrews, but 

 even more determined water trespassers. Their scien- 

 tific name is Galemys, and they are popularly known 

 under the name of Daesman. 



In many respects, such as the flattening of the tail, 

 the Daesman very much resembles the water shrew, but 

 as it is a much more aquatic animal, its structure is 

 modified accordingly. 



Unlike the water shrew, which gambols about on 

 shore or in the water with equal agility, the Daesman 

 spends hardly any of its time out of the water, and is in 

 the fresh water almost as constantly aquatic as the seals 

 are in the ocean. As, therefore, its legs are needed for 

 swimming rather than for walking, they are very much 

 shortened, very little more than the paws appearing 

 outside the skin. The toes are very long in proportion, 

 and are connected with webs, so as to convert the foot 

 into a powerful oar. 



It is very much averse to walking on land, and if 

 it be obliged to pass from one stream to another, it 

 will avoid the overland route, and dig for itself a 

 tunnel, the fore feet being adapted for burrowing as 

 well as swimming. 



The strangest part of its formation, which enables 

 the Daesman to be a water trespasser, is the shape of 

 the nose. In the ordinary shrew this organ is elon- 

 gated, but in the Daesman it is so very long and mobile 



