55 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



special, but the molars are always furnished with numerous 

 small-pointed eminences or cusps, adapted for crushing insects. 

 With one exception, clavicles are always present in a complete 

 form. All the feet are usually furnished with five toes ; all the 

 toes are furnished with claws ; and the animal walks on the 

 soles of the feet, or is plantigrade. The testes pass periodically 

 from the abdomen into a temporary scrotum ; and the placenta 

 is deciduate and discoidal. They are all of small size, and are 

 found everywhere, except in the continents of South America 

 and Australia, where their place is filled by Marsupials. 



The three leading families of the 

 Insectivora are the Talpida or Moles, 

 the Soricidce or Shrew-mice, and the 

 Erinaceidce or Hedgehogs. 



Fam. i. Talpida. The body in 

 this family is covered with hair ; the 

 feet are formed for digging and bur- 

 rowing, and the toes are furnished 

 with stron S curved claws. There 

 are no external ears ; and the eyes 

 in the adult are rudimentary, and more or less completely 

 useless as organs of vision. 



The common Mole (Talpa Europczd) is the only British 

 species of the family, and a representative form (Condylura) 

 occurs in North America. One of the most remarkable of the 

 Talpidce. is the Golden Mole ( Chrysochloris aureus) of Africa. 

 In form and habits this species resembles the common Mole, 

 but the hairs of the fur have the property of dispersing the 

 rays of light, and thus of giving rise to beautiful metallic 

 colours, such as are produced by the " setae " of the Sea-mice 

 (Aphrodite) amongst the Annelides.* 



Fam. 2. Soricidce. The Soricidcz or Shrew-mice are distin- 

 guished by having the body covered with hair, and the feet not 

 adapted for digging; whilst there are external ears, and the 

 eyes are well developed. Of all the Insectivora, no division is 

 more abundant or more widely distributed than that of the 

 Shrew-mice. In general form and appearance the Shrews very 

 closely resemble the true Mice (Muridce) and the Dormice 

 (Myoxidcz), but they are in reality widely different, and must 

 not be confounded with them. The common Shrew (Sorex 

 araneus) and the Water-shrew (Sorex fodiens} are both well- 

 known species of this family. The smallest known Mammal 

 is one of the Shrews (Sorex Etruscus), which is not more than 

 two and a half inches in length, counting in the tail. 



Fam. 3. Erinaceidtz. The last family of the Insectivora is 



