1873.] DR. J. ANDERSON ON ASIATIC SHREWS. 229 



membranous in character. There is only one of Hodgson's species 

 in this museum, S. soccatus (not C. niyrescens), represented by a 

 single specimen identified by Blyth, while an individual referred by 

 the latter naturalist to Elliot's P. niyer is so shattered about the 

 head that I have hesitated to remove the skull. None of Kelaart's 

 species is represented, neither is any of the species described by 

 Tomes and Templeton ; so that, if we exclude P. indica, P. murina, 

 P. serpentaria, P. griffithii, S. soccatus, and P. nigra, the specimens 

 in the museum are all Blyth's species. 



I have removed the skulls from as many of the museum specimens 

 as possible ; and the result of my inquiries renders it probable that 

 some of the so-called species are only young individuals, and others 

 merely adolescents, of one and the same form, while others appear to 

 be varieties depending on chromatic modifications of the fur. It 

 would be premature, however, to venture any decided opinion on 

 these instances until more materials are collected for comparison. 



The general characters of the form of the teeth of the four sub- 

 genera of Shrews, Sorex, Crossopus, Crocidura, and Pachyura, are 

 the same ; but the number of the teeth varies in the interspace 

 between the front incisors of the upper jaw and the first molar, and 

 in the intermaxillary bone. The known limits of the variation of 

 the small lateral teeth in the foregoing interspace is 2 to 5, and in the 

 intermaxillary bone from 1 to 3. The latter, of course, form one 

 section of the inciso-molar interspace. The molars of the maxilla 

 are 4 on each side, a number which prevails throughout the group. 

 The mandible has always 12 teeth, viz. 1 front incisor, 1 lateral incisor, 

 1 canine, 1 premolar, and 3 molars on each side. The Shrews, for 

 convenience, may be further separated into two great subordinate 

 groups, dependent on the absence or presence of a brownish pigment 

 deposit on the teeth. All the Shrews of the former division are cha- 

 racterized by the simplest type of dentition. The number of teeth 

 in the maxilla varies from 7 to 9 on each side. In Shrews with the 

 former number (Diplotnesodou) the small lateral teeth in the inciso- 

 molar space are two, with the intermaxillary suture between them, 

 the dental formula being ^+1+^=26*. The front incisor is 

 arched ; and at its base there is a small obtuse tubercle. The inter- 

 mediate type, with three small lateral teeth (Crocidura aranea), has 

 the maxillo-intermaxillary suture between the second and third small 

 lateral teeth ; the front incisors have no process on their inner mar- 

 gins ; the dental formula is ~+t+~ = 28. 



The type with nine teeth on each side of the upper jaw has 

 four small lateral teeth (Pachyura indica), the last very minute. 

 Brandt has observed the suture between the second and third small 

 teeth, an observation I have verified in a nest of three young speci- 



* I have obtained a short-tailed Shrew from Assam, having a large head, with 

 this formula, but with hidden obscure external ears and very short tail, one 

 sixth thelength of the animal, and with scaly feet and legs, like a Mole, with 

 the pelvis of that animal. It forms a new genus, which mav be designated 

 Pygmura. 



