52 SOEECIDJ!. 



canine and the scissor-tooth ; and the short tail is clad and tufted with 

 white hairs. A species from Japan, T. mogura, is described by Temminck, 

 and there are two in Europe, T. mropcsa, and T. cceca of Italy and 

 Greece. 



A writer in the Bengal Sporting Review (the Eev. H. Baker), sus- 

 pects the presence of moles on the Neelgherry hills, having found mutila- 

 ted remains of what he took to be such. This conjecture has not to my 

 knowledge been verified, and I much doubt their existence on those hills. 



In Condylura, a North American genus of moles, there is a peculiar star 

 of moveable cartilaginous filaments at the end of the snout, and the tail 

 is longer than in Talpa. The shrew-moles, Scalops, also from North 

 America, chiefly differ from true moles by their teeth. Urotrichus tal- 

 poides is a Japanese mole, with a moderate hairy tail ; and a second 

 species of this genus has been quite recently discovered in North America. 



The African or Cape moles, have been by some classed as a distinct 

 group, Ghrysochlorince, They have two incisors above, and four below ; 

 and their fur has a peculiar metallic lustre, hence-called Golden Moles. 

 They have no external ears nor eyes, and want the tail. 



Fam. SoRKCiD^, Shrews. 



Body, covered with soft hair. Eyes, small but distinct. External ears 

 in most, generally small. Muzzle, elongated. Fore feet, of ordinary 

 form. 



The Shrews comprise a large number of small animals, which, from their 

 general appearance and nocturnal habits, are popularly confounded with 

 rats and mice. The two middle incisors above are large and hooked, the 

 lower ones are slanting and lengthened, and these are followed by several 

 smaller ones. There is a tuberculous tooth in the upper jaw, and three 

 cuspidated molars in each jaw. The feet are pentadactylous, the toes well 

 cloven, and the tail of moderate length, more or less naked, or thinly 

 clad with hairs. The snout is lengthened, pointed and very mobile. On 

 each side of the body in certain species there is a gland under the skin 

 surrounded by a circlet of short hairs, which secretes a fluid of the odour 

 of musk. It exists in both sexes, and appears to be more developed at 

 certain periods. During the day shrews remain concealed in drains or 

 holes, dark outhouses, under boxes, mats, &c, and those that dwell in 

 forests, under stones or in holes under trees. At nightfall they sally forth 

 and hunt for their food, which is chiefly insects. Shrews are found over 



