ORDER CARNASSIER. 175 



the Shrews will form a very natural, and as we shall pre- 

 sently see, a tolerably numerous family. 



The Shrews are easily recognised by the elongated 

 and conical formation of the head, and more particularly 

 by the exceeding length of their nostrils. Their ears have 

 more width than height. The apparent shortness of their 

 legs arises from their placing the entire sole of the foot so 

 completely on the ground. The neck also appears short, 

 because the clavicles contribute, by their length and pecu- 

 liar disposition, to approximate the head to the anterior 

 extremities. 



To form a just idea of the true length of their heads, it 

 will be necessary to consider them when divested of their 

 softer parts. We shall find that the skull presents a very 

 sufficient capacity for the lodgment of the cerebral masses. 

 It is remarkably wide between the fossae temporales, a fact, 

 the existence of which would not be conjectured from a 

 contemplation of the head with its integuments, but which 

 is owing to the absence of the zygomatic arch. 



The jaws of the Shrews are completely furnished with 

 teeth, to the number of twenty-eight or thirty. The two 

 central teeth in each jaw, or the incisors, properly speak- 

 ing, like those of the Glires, are the largest and strongest ; 

 those above have a sort of spur or protuberance near the heel 

 of each tooth,' while those below grow out horizontally from 

 their alveoli for some distance, and then take a curve up- 

 wards, where, in many species, they then become of a 

 bright-brown colour. The three succeeding teeth in the 

 upper jaw, (sometimes four,) and the two in the lower jaw, 

 on each side, may, perhaps, be either termed lateral inci- 

 sors or false canines ; they are shaped like ordinary canine 

 teeth, but cannot perform the same office, being, in fact, 

 shorter than the cheek-teeth, which are four above, and 

 three below, on each side, in both jaws, with large crowns, 



