THE UNTAMABLE SHREW. 



by this time that " appearances are deceitful.'* 

 If an animal looks very much like some- 

 thing else, the chances are that it is 

 altogether different. This is particularly 

 the case with the insectivores and the 

 marsupials, each of which great groups has 

 independently developed a series of forms 

 absurdly like the mice, the squirrels, the 

 porcupines, and the jerboas, because each 

 fills approximately the same place in nature. 

 For example, small mammals which creep 

 about among grass and matted herbage 

 are likely to assume a mouse-like shape. 

 This has happened among rodents in the 

 case of the mice and field-voles, among 

 invectivores in the case of the shrews, and 

 among Australian marsupials in the case of 

 the pouched kangaroo-mice. Our English 

 shrew is a pretty little creature of this common 

 type, with thick soft fur like a mouse's, 

 only a trifle redder, and so mousey in 

 shape that it is seldom discriminated from 

 the true mice, save by naturalists and 

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