512 
MAMMALIA. 
occasionally. They lead a solitary life in holes, which they find 
ready-made, or which they dig for themselves ; they seldom leave 
these retreats during the day. In winter, when food is scarce, 
they force their way into barns, stables, &c. The various species, 
however, do not frequent the same kind of locality. Some show 
a great preference for woods, and generally all the dry regions ; 
others only inhabit damp meadows on the banks of streams. 
Some swim with ease, aided by their tail, which is flattened in 
the form of an oar, and seek their subsistence about water. 
Shrew Mice are furnished with a gland on each flank, which 
is surrounded with bristly hair, and secretes a greasy matter, 
having a penetrating odour like musk. This odour is so powerful 
that it is most repugnant to other animals. The Cat pursues and 
kills them, but never eats them. For a long time it had been 
believed that the bite inflicted by these tiny Insectivora on 
domestic animals was poisonous. This is a mistake ; their bite is 
completely inoffensive. 
There have been found, along with Egyptian money, the bones 
of the Shrew Mouse, a fact which goes to prove that the ancient 
Egyptians placed it among their sacred animals. Plutarch ex- 
plains this circumstance by saying that the Shrew Mouse is 
deprived of sight, and that, according to the Egyptians, darkness 
is older than light. The explanation is as obscure as the fact. 
Shrew Mice are found in every part of the globe ; they are 
met on the two continents in all latitudes. Nevertheless, it is in 
Europe, and particularly in France and Germany, that they are 
most numerous. The principal species are the Common Shrew 
Mouse, or Piper, which inhabits Central and Southern Europe ; 
the Etruscan Shrew Mouse, proper to the South of France and 
certain parts of Italy, — it is the smallest species in the genus, not 
measuring more than two and a half inches long, head and tail 
included ; the Pat- tailed or Giant Shrew Mouse, the largest of the 
genus, its size attaining nearly that of the Norway Pat, — it 
inhabits India and the Indian Archipelago, and the odour it 
exhales is so powerful that it puts serpents to flight, and taints 
the water in vessels it passes near; lastly, the Water Shrew and 
the Oared Shrew, which are aquatic in their habits, and are found 
in the whole of Europe, — they are also well known in the suburbs 
of Paris. 
