1855.] A Memoir on the Indian species of Shrews. 25 



the inferior have rarely so much as a trace of a serrated upper edge : 

 of four upper premolars anterior to the camassiez, the first is large, 

 the second and third are much smaller, the fourth is diminutive, and 

 the third exceeds the second. This group of Shrews is familiarly 

 exemplified by the common large musk Shrews of Asia and Africa, 

 and constitutes the restricted Sorex, L. (v. Pachjura, de Selys 

 Longchamps).* 



The Indian species are as follow. 



1. S. CJSRTJLESCENS, Shaw : S. pilorides, Shaw: S. giganteus, 

 Is. Geoffroy : 5. murinus, L., apud Gray : figured in Hardwicke's 

 III. Ind. Zool.. as S. myosurus, Pallas ; whence probably S. myosurus 

 apud Walker, in Cede. Journ. Nat. Hist. Ill, 255. The common 

 Musk Shrew, or (vulgo) ' Musk Eat,' of Bengal, &c. (but very dif- 

 ferent from the ' Musk Eat' or Muskquash — Eiber zibeticus of 

 N. America, which is a rodent nearly affined to the Voles — Aevi- 



€OLA). 



This animal is described by Mr. Hodgson in the Ann. Mag. N. H. 

 XV, 269 (1845) ; but the length of the tail (as given), 3} in , is 

 possibly a misprint for 3f or 3f in., or more than half of the length 

 of the head and body, which is given as 6 in. Number of caudal 

 vertebrae, 24. Total length of skull of adult male, with front-teeth 

 in situbus, somewhat exceeding If in. ; of female, somewhat under 



* Certain small species of temperate climates were detached by Wagler from the 

 ordinary Shrews of those climates (with piceous-tipped teeth, &c.,) by the name 

 Crocidura (v. Suncus, Ehrenberg, apud Gray) ; e. g. S. araneus, S. leucodon, 

 S. etruscus, &c. : but we are not aware that these are separable from the above ; 

 and certainly the various Pygmy Shrews of India are typical Sorices, except that 

 some only of them want the odoriferous glands on the sides of the body. 



A 7 . B. In the ' Report on the Quadrupeds of Massachusets,' published by the 

 Government Commissioners of the Zoological and Botanical Survey of the State 

 (1840), the extraordinary statement is made by Mr. E. Emmons, that " In the 

 specimens of Sorex which have fallen under my observation, I have not been able to 

 discover, even with the microscope, any nostrils, the termination (or the extremity) 

 of the nose being apparently an imperforate membrane." Upon reading this, we 

 examined several species (large and small) preserved in spirit ; and easily detected 

 a lateral valvular orifice, which, on pressure of the snout above, was shewn to be 

 perforate, by the fluid ooziug through. Could Mr. Emmons have tried so simple 

 an experiment ? 



E 



