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Show 86 MAMMALIA. h r surrounded with white, and almost hidden in the hair; t e ea h · 1 d' it has the faculty of hermetically clo~in~ whe? t ~ am~aT tve~, while the stiff bristles which fringe 1ts 1eet gtve 1t a act tty 10 swimming, in consequence of which it prefers the banks of creeks and rivulets. Several Shrews have been observed in E~rop~, somewhat dif- ~ · from the preceding ones ; but as m thts genus the age • ermg f f . . b and season materially affect the colours o the ur, 1t 1s y no means cet·tain they are distinct species. ( 1) Other countries also have their own, the most remarkable of which is the S. myosurus, Pall., Act. Petrop. 1781, part II, pl. 4 .. Mus musquee del' Jnde, Buff. Supp. VII, 71. (The Rat-tailed s~rew.) In its form and colour it resembles our common Shrew, and also has its large naked ears, but the tail is round, furnished with scattering hairs, and is almost as large as that of our Long-tailed Field-mouse. It gives out a str.ong musky scent which impregnates every thing it touches. It 1s fo~nd through· out India and part of Africa, and is one of the ammals the an· cient Egyptians were in the habit of embalming.(2) MYGALE, Cuv. The Desmans differ from the Shrews in two very small teeth placed between the two great lower incisors, and in their two upper (1) The S. leucodon, Schreb. 159, D, does not appear to me to differfrom the common Shrew. I strongly suspect the S. tetragonurus and constrictus, Berm., Schreb. 159, B and C, or Geoff. Ann. Mus. XVII, pl. 2, f. 3, and pl. 3, f. 1, and even the S. remifer, Geoff. Ann. Mus. XVII, pl. 2, f. 1, to be different ages o~the Water-Shrew; the remifer particularly, whose belly is sometimes white, sometimes black; the S. lineatus, Geoff. ib. 181, is an accidental variety of the tetragrmuru: arising from age. The S. minutus, Laxmann, Schreb. 161, D, is merely a muti· lated specimen of the S. pygmmus, Pall. Such is not the case however with the S. etruscus, Sa vi, which is but half the size of our common species, is blackish, has naked ears, white muzzle and paw~ round tail, &c. It is a true and distinct species. (2) I consider the S. myosurus, Pall. and Geoff. Ann. du Mus. XVII, p1.3, f, 2 ; the S. capensis, id. ib. pl. ii, f, 2 ; the S. indicus, id. M:em. du Mus. I, ~1.15, t 1, as ages or varieties of one same species, to which I also refer the S. gzganJ~, Isid. Geoff. Mem. du Mus. XV, pl. 4, fig. 3 ; perhaps even the S. jlavesCf%18, isJd. Geoff. ib. Seba figures it, Mus. J, pl. 31, f. 7 and 11-pl.· 63, fig. 5,· :u'd ~e white variety, l, pl. 47, f. 4.-Add the S. murinus, Lin. of Java, of the SlZe 0 1 mouse; grey; ears naked; tail round and nearly as long as the body.-TheS.blt· vicaudus, Say, from North America; blackish, ears concealed, tail one-fourth: length of the body .-8. parvus, id. with naked ears.-The S. suaveolens, p~., the other species pointed out by him in his Zoography of Russia. ThiS ~en~ needs revision as much as that· of the Bats. N .B. There are several species~ the United States which have not yet been sufficiently examined. .Om. Ed· CARNARIA. 89 incisors which are flattened and triangular. Behind these incisors are six or seven small teeth and four bristled molars. Their snout ~s draw.n out into ~little flex.ible proboscis, which they keep constantly m motion. Their long tall, scaly, and flattened on the sides, with their feet of five fingers all united by membranes, evidently proclaim them to be aquatic animals. Their eyes are very small, and they have no external ears • Sorex moschatus, L.; Buff. X; Pall. Act. Petrop. 1781, part II, pl. 5. (The Russian Muskrat.) Nearly as large as a Shrew; above blackish, beneath whitish ; tail not so long as the body by one~fourth. Very common along the rivers and lakes of southern ~ussia, where it lives on Worms, the larvre of Insects, and particularly on Leeches, which, by means of its flexible snout, it easily withdraws from the mud. Its burrow, which ls made in the bank, commences under water, and ascends to such a height as to be above its level in the greatest floods. This animal never comes voluntarily on ahore, but numbers of them are taken in the nets of the fishermen. Its musky odour arises from a kind of pomatum that is secreted in small follicles under the tail, and it is so powerful as to be communicated to the flesh of the Pike which feeds on the Desman. A small species of this genus is found in the rivulets of the Pyrenees, whose tail is longer than its body; ascertained by M. Geoff. Ann. du Mus. tom. XVII, pl. iv, f. 1, Myg. pyrena'ica, H. CHRYSOCHLORis, Lacep. ~nimals ofthis genus, like those of the preceding one, have two inCisors above and four below; but their grinders are long, distinct and almost all shaped like triangular prisms. Their muzzle is short, broad and recurved, and their fore-feet have only three nails of _which the external, that is very large, much arcuated and p~mt.ed, serves· them as a powerful instrument for excavating and p1ercmg the earth; the others regularly decrease in size. The hind ·feet have five of an ordinary size. They are subterraneous animals, whose mode of life is similar ·to that of Moles. To enable them to dig the better, their fore-arm is supported by a third bone placed under the cubitus. C. aaiaticus; Talpa asiatica, L.; Schreb. CL VII ; and better, Brown, Ill. XLV. (The Golden Mole.) A little smaller than the European Mole; no apparent tail; is the only known quadr~ ped that presents any appearance of those splendid metallic tmts which brighten and adorn so many Birds, Fishes and Insects. Its fur is a green, changing to a copper or bronze; VoL. 1.-M |