ATOPI-IYRAX BENDIRII. 
223 
black with colorless tips, the longest reaching a little beyond the 
ear. Hair very dense and long, that on the back and shoulders 
measuring 6 mm.; basal two-thirds dark plumbeous. 
Ears moderate, barely distinguishable without parting the fur ; 
auricle, without fringe of hairs, 2.5 mm., with fringe, 6 mm. Eyes 
small but distinctly visible. Muffle rather large, deeply furrowed 
along the median line ; nostrils opening laterally. Muzzle long, 
attenuate, depressed sub-cylindrical, protruding somewhat abruptly 
from the very broad head.* 
Tail large, sub-quadrate for about two-thirds its length, well 
clothed with stiff, bristle-like, appressed hairs, measuring about 
2.50 mm. on the middle third, gradually increasing in length on 
the terminal third, and ending in a pencil 5 mm. in length. 
Manus large and broad, measuring 4 by 11 mm.; pes long and 
slender, 3.5 by 20 mm. Upper surfaces and sides of both feet 
densely haired to claws, the marginal hairs stiff, elongated, and 
turned down in such a way as to form a pronounced border on each 
side of each foot and toe (but not fimbriated to the extent seen in 
Ncosorex). Soles naked to end of heel ; nearly black. Toes with 
claws : mams, third and fourth subequal, second claw overreaching 
base of third, fifth not reaching base of fourth, first falling short 
of base of fifth ; pes , third and fourth subequal, second but little 
shorter, fifth reaching nearly to base of fourth, first overreaching 
base of fifth. (Formula for toes of both manus and pes : 3=4, 
2, 5 - 1.) 
Dental Characters. — First and second unicuspids subequal, 
largest ; third and fourth subequal, smaller ; fifth, smallest, but very 
large for a Shrew (distinctly visible to the naked eye from both 
sides and from below), nearly half as large as fourth, with a well- 
developed, conical, colored cusp ; not crowded. Lower incisor 
with two prominent denticulations, two notches, and one sinuation ; 
its base extending beyond the canine and appearing under the an- 
terior third of the premolar. Premolar markedly bicuspidate, the 
anterior cusp longest and connected by an oblique, deeply notched 
ridge with the posterior, from which another ridge is inflected 
obliquely backward and inward, thus defining a triangular area 
whose apex points outward. The resemblance of this tooth to the 
anterior segment of the first true molar is striking. Tips of all 
the teeth well colored. 
Cranial Characters. — Skull large and heavy (weighing .15 
grammes — but only half as heavy as that of Blarina brevicauda, 
which, in adults, averages about .30 grammes). A broad constric- 
tion occupies the middle fifth of the skull, extending from the base 
* This apparent breadth of the head is due to the length of the hairs on its sides, the cranium 
being narrow. 
