178 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



tail and the limbs are better furnished with hairs, and the 

 muzzle is a little more blunt. 



It is generally found in the neighbourhood of small rivu- 

 lets, from which circumstance, Daubenton, its first describer, 

 took occasion to call it the Water-Shrew. There are others, 

 however, of this genus, which live in marshy and aquatic 

 places, and this renders preferable the appellation given 

 to the animal, by Blumenbach and Erxleben, namely, that 

 of Sorex Daubentonii. Hermann changed it into that of 

 Sorex Carinatus, having remarked that the upper part of 

 the tail bears some resemblance to the keel of a 'vessel. 

 Before him, Pallas had substituted the name of Fodiens, 

 which is also the name under which the Shrew of Dauben- 

 ton is inscribed in Gmelin's catalogue. 



The colour of its fur, blackish above, and a pure white 

 underneath, is peculiar to itself. The white of the lower 

 parts extends over the sides, being raised nearly above the 

 level of the thighs. It may also be easily distinguished by 

 a white spot, and by the ferruginous colour of the extre- 

 mities of the teeth. 



M. Marchand, presented a specimen of this Sorex to 

 M. Geoffrey. He found it in the stagnant waters, and 

 beheld it maintain a combat of more than half an hour's 

 duration with a frog, which it had seized with its paw. 



The ears of this species are furnished with three small 

 valves, by which it is able, almost hermetically, to close the 

 passage, a provision, as is also that of the stiff hairs 

 bordering the feet, which accords with its aquatic habits, 

 and is serviceable to it in the water. 



The next species to be noticed is the Sorex Tetragonurus. 

 This is one of the new species described by Hermann. 

 Daubenton, in 1791, having had some knowledge of the 

 labours of this Professor, from the Elenchus Animalium of 

 Boddaert, inserted all the Shrews, known at that period, in 

 a systematic table, which he formed for the " Ency elope die 



