Another species, leading more towards the Shrews, was discovered in eastern Tibet by the Abbé David, and described by M. A. Milne-Edwards under the name of Uropsilus soricipes, or the Shrew-footed Uropsile. The general characters of the animal are very like those of Urotrichus, but it has one premolar less on each side in each jaw, making the total number of teeth only thirty-four. The tail is naked and scaly; and the fur is of a slate-colour, with a slight brownish tinge.

FAMILY X.—SORICIDÆ, OR THE SHREWS.

A great number of small mouse-like and rat-like animals, presenting shades of character which render their classification almost insuperably difficult, constitute the family of the Shrews, which, as we have already stated, may be regarded as representing the generalised or central idea of the Insectivorous Mammal. On all sides the other families include anomalous species, and the characters which distinguish these from their immediate fellows generally tend in the direction of the Shrews.

In these creatures we find a mouse-like body, terminated in front by a small head, with a long pointed muzzle, and behind by a nearly naked, scaly tail of variable length. The eyes are small, as also are generally the ears; the limbs are short, and nearly equal in size; the skull is long and narrow, and has on each side of its base a space not filled up with bone; the teeth are from twenty-eight to thirty-two in number, and the middle incisors in both jaws are very large; the skull has no zygomatic arch or tympanic bony bubble; the bones of the shank (tibia and fibula) are united; and the intestine has no cæcum. On the sides of the body or at the root of the tail the Shrews possess peculiar glands, which secrete a fluid of strong odour, serving no doubt to protect them from many enemies.

The Shrews are distributed over all parts of the Old World and in North America. They live generally on the ground, although some take freely to the water, and they feed upon worms, insects, and other small animals such as they can overcome. The difficulty of classifying these animals to which we have already alluded has led to their being divided into an infinity of generic groups, of which we shall endeavour to illustrate those which are now most generally accepted.

THE COMMON SHREW.[280]

The Common Shrew, or Shrew-mouse, as it is often called, may be noticed first, as being the species most likely to be met with by our readers, in England at any rate. It is one of the species for which the Linnæan generic name Sorex has been retained, the group as restricted including Shrews with from thirty to thirty-two teeth, there being four or five premolars in the upper and only two in the lower jaw; with a basal tubercle to the upper inner incisors; with ears of moderate size directed backwards, a long tail, and the feet not fringed with hairs.

1. PIGMY SHREW.   2. COMMON SHREW.   3 AND 4. WATER SHREW.

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