38 Dentition and Characters 



Notwithstanding this variety exceeded in bulk and entire length 

 any individuals of its kind I had before met with, it will be ob- 

 served that its head and tail taken separately were each shorter 

 than in either of the specimens of which the dimensions are given 

 by Mr Bell and myself in our respective works. It proved to be a 

 female which had recently produced young, the nipples being dis- 

 tended and very prominent ; and all its characters, as regards size 

 and form, clearly shewed that its peculiarities were due simply to 

 age. Its snout was very much attenuated, (thus confirming a re- 

 mark of M. Duvernoy, that this part is always thicker in young 

 subjects) : the tail distinctly quadrangular, somewhat flattened ho- 

 rizontally towards the tip ; not nearly so stout as in ordinary spe- 

 cimens ; almost naked ; the investing hairs being worn to the stumps, 

 closely appressed, and not extending at the tip more than fths of a 

 line beyond the bone. The teeth in like manner indicated age : 

 the upper middle incisors were completely ground down to their 

 point of contact, (giving the appearance of their being more than 

 usually divaricated at their origin ;) the lower ones possessed but 

 two denticles on their upper margin, the first of the three ordina- 

 rily present having become obsolete from use. The colours (which, 

 however, in this instance had probably nothing to do with age) were 

 also rather peculiar in this variety. They were distinctly of three 

 kinds : that of the sides being separated from the colour of the back 

 by a well-defined line, originating at the hind quarter, thence pas- 

 sing straight onwards to the shoulder, where it inclined upwards, 

 terminating finally at the ear. The parts above the line were of a 

 very dark red-brown, approaching to black, with a few cinereous 

 hairs intermixed; — the sides themselves reddish ash ; — the parts be- 

 neath cinereous, or dirty white, with a faint tinge of yellow : region 

 of the anus dusky. 



With the above specimen, which was procured from Burwell Fen 

 in Cambridgeshire, I think in the month of June, I received a se- 

 cond, also a female, closely resembling it in all its essential charac- 

 ters, but not quite so large. The length of the head and body was 

 2 inc. 9 lines ; that of the tail 1 inc. 9 lines, this being the same as 

 in the former instance. The snout was equally attenuated, and the 

 tail equally quadrangular as well as naked. The colours were some- 

 what different ; the upper parts being generally paler, and the sides 

 darker, the boundary-line visible but not very distinct : the back, 

 however, was variegated with two or three large jet-black patches. 

 It is worth adding, that in both of the above specimens, the ears 

 were quite as short as in common specimens, almost entirely con- 



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