530 MUSK sHRE^r. 
substance about the quantity of a scruple may, it 
is saidj be obtained from each animal.. 
These creatures are said sometimes to be seen 
swimming about in considerable numbers on the 
surface of lakes and rivers, and may often be 
heard to snap their mouths with a sound not un- 
like that of a duck ; feeding on worms, leeches, 
water insects, &c. as Avell as occasionally on vege- 
table substances. 
In some particulars this animal makes a dis- 
tant approach to that most singular of quadru- 
peds, the Platypus. It may also be added, that 
the Platypus, if considered merely with regard to 
external habit, and without reference to its gene- 
ric character, might, perhaps, with almost equal 
propriety be placed in the present order as in that 
of Briita, did not its want of teeth lead us to 
place it with the rest of the edentulous or tooth- 
less quadrupeds, viz. the Ant-Eaters and the Pan- 
golins. 
The Musk Shrew is a slow-paced animal, and 
easily taken, if accidentally found on land. The 
skins are said to be sold in Russia to put into 
chests in order to drive away moths, and so com- 
mon is the animal in the neighbourhood of Nizney 
Novogorod, that the peasants are said bring five 
hundred apiece to market, where they are sold 
for a ruble per hundred. 
In the twelfth edition of the Systema Naturse 
this animal is placed in the genus Castor or Bea- 
ver, und er the title of Castor inoschatus. 
