230 DR. J. ANDERSON ON ASIATIC SHREWS. [Mar. 4, 



mens of P. indica. The front incisor has no internal process ; and 

 the basal tubercle is obtuse and rather small. The dental formula is 



^ + ij+!^=30. In the three foregoing types, the lower incisor 

 is either quite smooth or provided with a small eminence. 



I shall now point out the peculiarities in the dentition of another 

 Shrew, the Crossopus himalaicus, Gray. That most assiduous naturalist 

 referred this Shrew to the genus Crossopus, Wagler, in a restricted 

 sense. The only information he gave regarding its dentition was, 



that the cutting-teeth were j, which is sufficient evidence that in its 

 dental formula it must have been nearly allied to Sorex. He 

 considered it, however, to be a true Crossopus. Blyth also had 

 his doubts whether it had been correctly referred to Crossopus. 

 There is a specimen in this museum from Darjeeling, which agrees 

 in every particular with the external characters as given by Gray 

 and Tomes ; and another from Ponsee, in the Kakhyen hills, to 

 the east of Bhamo, Upper Burniah ; but the dentition is not 

 that of a Crossopus. The teeth are wholly white ; there are only 

 three small lateral incisors ; the front incisor has a rather small, ob- 

 tuse, basal process ; but the inner margin of this tooth, unlike any of 

 the forms referable to the preceding groups, has a small process de- 

 veloped on it. It is rather obscure, but has all the characters of the 

 process as it occurs in the other two brown-toothed genera of Shrews 

 recognized by Brandt. The teeth, however, of this form, as I have 

 already mentioned, are white ; the lower incisors are smooth ; and the 

 teeth in all their other characters, with the exception of this pro- 

 cess, agree with the section to which C. aranea belongs, the dental 

 formula being ^+5+5X6=28. The presence of this process in 

 this species serves to link the white- to the brown-toothed Shrews ; 

 but this character of itself, occurring in the feeble way it does, is not 

 a sufficient reason for separating it generically from Croeidura. The 

 genus Croeidura may therefore be defined as follows : — Teeth white ; 

 first incisors arched, provided with a more or less obtuse moderately 

 developed tubercle at their base posteriorly. The inner margins 

 usually smooth, or provided with a feeble tooth-like process. Lower 

 incisors long, curved forwards and upwards, smooth, or provided on 

 their upper surface with one or more eminences ; small lateral teeth 

 varying from two to four. 



The following Table is the result of an examination of the denti- 

 tion of the various white-toothed Shrews in this museum, from which 

 it appears that three of them belong to the genus Croeidura, as above 

 defined, and the remainder, 10 in number, to the type of dentition 

 represented by Pachyura indica. 



White-toothed Shrews. 

 A. Front incisors of upper jaw without an internal process. 



Croeidura kelaartii, Blyth. "T~ + i+2+6 = ^" ^owe 1 " incisors 

 smooth. Intermaxillary suture examined. Probably young of 

 some other species. 



