146 
SAY’S LEAST SHREW. 
CHARACTERS. 
Body above brownish ash, cinereous beneath. Teeth black, tail short, 
sub-cylindrical. 
SYNOKYMES. 
SoRBX Parvus, Say, Long’s Exped., vol. i., p. 163. 
“ “ Linsby, Am. Journal, vol. xxxix., p. 388. 
“ “ Harlan, p. 28. Godman, vol. i., p. V8, pi., fig. 2. 
“ “ Dekay, Nat. Hist. N. Y., p. 19. 
DESCRIPTION. 
DENTAL SYSTEM. 
Incisive - ; Lateral incisive — ; Molar — = 32. 
2 2—2 4—4 
In the upper jaws the incisors are small, much hooked, and have 
a posterior lobe ; the succeeding lateral incisors, are minute, conical, 
not lobed, the two anterior ones much the largest. The first grinder 
is smaller than the second and third, the fourth is the smallest. In 
. the lower jaw the incisors are a little smaller than those in the upper. 
They are much more hooked and have each a large posterior lobe. 
The two lateral incisors are small not lobed — the grinders have each 
two sharp points rising above the enamel. The second tooth is largest 
and the third smallest. Nose slender and long, but less so than that 
of many other species, especially that of 8. longiroslris and Richard- 
sonii. Muzzle, bi-lobate, naked ; moustaches, numerous, long, reaching 
to the shoulders ; body, slender ; eyes, very small, ears, none ; the audi- 
tory opening being covered by a round lobe, without any folds above ; 
feet sparsely clothed with minute hairs, palms naked ; tail thickly clothed 
with minute hairs, fur, short, close, soft, and silky. 
COLOUR. 
All the teeth are at their points intensely black ; whiskers, white 
and black ; point of nose, feet, and nails, whitish ; the hair is, on the 
upper surface plumbeous, from the roots, and of an ashy-brown at the 
tips ; a shade lighter on the under surface : under the chin it is of an 
ashy grey gradually blending with the colours on the back. 
