ORDER CARNASSIER. 177 



of the hair, under the belly, and tail, are white. The tail is 

 flesh-coloured, in the individuals first above-mentioned, and 

 brown in the second. These differences may appertain to 

 distinct races, or even to distinct species. This is a point 

 not very easily decided, and such points must often recur 

 where the distinctive characters are not of a high order. 



A third has been observed by the naturalist we have 

 referred to, with tail one-fourth longer than that of the 

 two fore-mentioned animals. 



Finally, individuals are found naked on the flanks, and 

 exhibiting, on the sides, instead of hair, a white spot, of an 

 elliptical form. These circumstances, our Naturalist seems 

 to think, distinguish them as mothers suckling their off- 

 spring. But he puts this question in an interrogatory 

 form. 



The tail is covered with short hairs, it is tolerably full- 

 shaped, demi-rounded, or to speak more correctly, sub- 

 quadrated, or triflingly squared. Its four sides are rather 

 projecting, but as the lines in angle, which separate them, 

 are clearly perceptible, we cannot admit that the tail is en- 

 tirely round. It is more so, certainly, in living individuals, 

 and in specimens recently dead, some difference, in this 

 respect, can be perceived. These observations, however 

 minute they may appear to persons superficially acquainted 

 with Zoology, are, nevertheless, to be insisted on, as ne- 

 cessary to the precise determination of a species, which 

 demands exactitude, in a very peculiar degree, satisfacto- 

 rily to distinguish it. The lips and feet are flesh-coloured, 

 and thinly sown with a few short and whitish hairs. 



Beside the three varieties we have noticed, Albinos are 

 occasionally found. 



The Water-Shrew of Pennant, Shaw, and the English 

 Naturalists, which we rather prefer, after Erxleben, call- 

 ing Daubenton's Shrew, Sorex Daubentonii, is larger than 

 the preceding. Its tail is also longer in proportion. The 

 Vol. II. N 



