DENTITION OF DESMAN.
The Desman, or Wychuchol of the Russians, is an inhabitant of Southern Russia, where it lives in the banks of streams and pools, in the region between the Don and the Volga. It is also said to occur in some parts of south-western Asia. Its body is about ten inches long, and its tail measures about seven inches and a half. The latter organ is narrowed at the root, and then nearly cylindrical for some distance, and finally compressed from near the middle to the extremity, thus forming a most powerful swimming organ, by means of which, aided by the broad webbed feet, the Desman makes its way through the water with great rapidity. The surface of the tail is scaly, with a scanty sprinkling of short hairs, and with a great number of small follicles, which secrete a greasy material.
The body of the Desman is covered with a dense fur, composed of a thick coat of fine downy hairs next the skin, and of longer smooth hairs, which form the outermost coat. It is reddish-brown on the back, ashy-grey on the belly, and shows a silvery lustre in certain lights. The feet are naked and scaly above, and fringed with hairs at the sides. At the eye, and over the auditory aperture, there are whitish spots.
In its habits the Desman is described as greatly resembling an Otter on a small scale. It lives by preference about standing waters and slow streams, especially when these, as is so commonly the case in Russia, are confined by steep banks of considerable height. In these banks it makes its residence, which is something like that of the Otter, consisting of a passage running obliquely upwards from below the surface of the water, often to a length of twenty feet or more, and then terminating in a sort of fortress-chamber, three or four feet above the water level. But this retreat is only occupied by the animal as a resting place; the greater part of its time, both in summer and winter, being passed in the water. Here it disports itself with an agility of which its rather heavy and clumsy figure would hardly appear to give promise; swimming and diving readily, making its way among the water-plants, and seeking constantly for the animals which constitute its food. These are chiefly leeches, worms, and aquatic mollusca and larvæ of insects, but in all probability no small aquatic animal would come greatly amiss. The curious movable trunk with which the animal is endowed is brought actively into play during the search for provisions. It is turned and twisted in various directions, touching the various objects that come in the way, and is used to feel about for prey, which it is said to seize and convey to the neighbouring mouth after the same fashion as the trunk of an elephant. The animal is said frequently to put its trunk into its mouth, and then to cry like a duck; when irritated or threatened, it hisses, and tries to bite. The Desman is supposed to produce more than one litter in the course of the year. It is pursued for the sake of its skin, which somewhat resembles that of the Beaver and Ondatra in its qualities; and great numbers are taken by means of nets, especially in the autumn. Its flesh is uneatable, on account of its strong musky flavour, which is communicated even to that of the carnivorous fishes, such as the Pike, which, being less nice in their tastes, do not object to an occasional Desman.
THE PYRENEAN DESMAN.[278]
The only other species of Desman is found in the small streams of the Pyrenees both in France and Spain, where it lives after the same fashion as its Russian relative, but is said to feed principally upon trout. It is much smaller than the preceding species, being only ten or eleven inches in total length, nearly one-half of which is occupied by the long tail. The fur is chestnut-brown on the back, greyish-brown on the sides, and silvery grey on the belly; the upper lip bears some pectinated whiskers, the sides of the trunk are covered with white and the fore-feet with brownish hairs; while the hind-feet are naked and scaly. This animal also diffuses a strong musky odour.
THE HAIRY-TAILED MOLE-SHREW.[279]
Besides the true Desmans this group is considered to include two or three singular little creatures which lead directly towards the true Moles. One of these is a Japanese species, discovered by Professor Siebold, and described by Professor Temminck under the name of Urotrichus talpoides, which we may call the Hairy-tailed Mole-Shrew. It differs from the Desmans, and agrees with the true Shrews in having only two incisor teeth in the lower jaw. There are thirty-eight teeth in all. It is about the size of the common Water Shrew, with the nose greatly elongated, not into a flexible proboscis, but into a snout with the nostrils placed at the sides of the tip; the tail is about an inch long, stout, scaly, and covered with long hairs, which form a tuft; the fur is brown and velvety, and the snout and feet flesh-coloured, and nearly naked.
This animal is common at elevations of from 1,000 to 1,200 feet in the mountains of the southern and eastern parts of Japan, but becomes more rare towards the north. In its habits it resembles the Moles, digging out galleries in the earth, but going down deeper, and rarely if ever forming heaps of loose earth at the surface.
A nearly allied species, Gibbs’ Mole Shrew (Urotrichus Gibbsii), is found in North America.