Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon. Robert Armitage Sterndale
and body, 5½ inches; tail, 3 inches.
Jerdon seems to think this is the same as S. Griffithi or closely allied; I cannot say anything about this, as I have no personal knowledge of the species, but on comparison with the description of S. Griffithi (which see further on) I should say they were identical.
HABITAT.—Dehra Doon.
DESCRIPTION.—"Light rufescent sandy brown, paler beneath; unusually well clad even on the feet and tail, this last being covered with shortish fur having numerous long hairs intermixed; form very robust; basal portion of tail very thick."
SIZE.—Head and body, 4½ inches; tail, 2¾ inches; hind foot, 7/8 inch.
HABITAT.—Ootacamund, Neilgherry hills.
DESCRIPTION.—"Blackish-brown, with a rufescent shade on the upper parts; abdomen greyish; tail equal in length to the entire animal, exclusive of the head, gradually tapering to a point; snout greatly attenuated. Length of head and body, 3½ inches; of the tail, 2½ inches."—Horsfield.
HABITAT.—Nepal.
DESCRIPTION.—Uniform blackish-brown colour; tail very long and slender, exceeding in length the head and body, terminating in a whitish tip of half an inch long.
SIZE.—Head and body, 3 inches; tail, 2½ inches. Jerdon supposes that it is found at great altitudes, from Hodgson having in another place described it (MSS.) under the name nivicola.
HABITAT.—Nepal, Sikim, Mussoorie.
DESCRIPTION.—According to Hodgson, nearly the size of S. nemorivagus, "but distinguished by its feet being clad with fur down to the nails, and by its depressed head and tumid bulging cheeks (mystaceal region); ears large and exposed; colour a uniform sordid or brownish-slaty blue, extending to the clad extremities; snout to rump, 3½ inches; tail, 2½ inches; planta, 13/16 inch. This animal was caught in a wood plentifully watered, but not near the water. It had no musky smell when brought to me dead."
HABITAT.—Ceylon, mountainous parts.
DESCRIPTION.—"Fur above sooty black without any ferruginous smear, beneath lighter coloured; whiskers long, silvery grey; some parts of legs and feet greyish, clothed with adpressed hairs; claws short, whitish; ears large, round, naked; outer margin lying on a level with the fur of the head and neck, the ears being thus concealed posteriorly; tail tetragonal, tapering, shorter than head and body."—Kellaart.
SIZE.—Head and body, 3¾ inches; tail, 2¼ inches; hind feet, 1/3 inch.
HABITAT.—Ceylon, Dimboola, below Newara Elia.
DESCRIPTION.—"Colour uniform dusky or dusky slate, with the tips of the fur rufescent; fur long; large sebaceous anal glands; smell very powerful."—Kellaart.
SIZE.—Head and body, 3¾ inches; tail, 2¼ inches.
HABITAT.—Khasia hills and Arracan.
DESCRIPTION.—"Deep blackish-brown, with a slight rufous reflection in a certain light; fur short, close, soft, and adpressed; tail thick at the base, with a few long very slender straggling hairs along its entire length; ears small and rounded; snout elongated."—Horsfield.
SIZE.—Head and body, 5¾ inches; tail, 2½ inches.
Horsfield puts this down as having been found in Afghanistan by Griffiths, but this is an error owing to Griffiths' Afghanistan and Khasia collections having got mixed up.
HABITAT.—Khasia hills.
DESCRIPTION.—"Very similar to S. soccatus in general appearance, but less dark coloured, with shorter fur, and pale instead of blackish feet and tail underneath; the feet too are broader, especially the hind feet, and they have a hairy patch below the heel" (Blyth). The skull is narrower, and the upper incisors less strongly hooked.
Teeth small; upper incisors shorter and less strongly hooked than in restricted Sorex; posterior spur large; lower incisors serrated with three coronal points. Feet very large.
HABITAT.—Ceylon.
DESCRIPTION.—Fur, long, soft uniform blackish—faint rufescent tinge.
SIZE.—Head and body 4¼ inches; tail 2¼.
The following species are of a more diminutive type, and are commonly called "pigmy-shrews;" in other respects they are true shrews.
HABITAT.—Nepal and Sikim.
DESCRIPTION.—Brown, with a slight tinge of chestnut; feet and tail furred; claws white.
SIZE.—Head and body 1½ inch; tail, 1 inch.
Found in coppices and fields; rarely entering houses.
HABITAT.—Neilgherry hills, probably also other parts of Southern India.
DESCRIPTION.—"Back deep blackish-brown; belly pale; limbs and feet brown; palms and plantæ clad with hairs; ears large, conspicuous."
SIZE.—Head and body, 1-4/12 inch; tail, 11/12 inch.
HABITAT.—West Himalayas, Kumaon, Mussoorie.
DESCRIPTION.—Claws very minute, with fine hairs impending them, only to be detected by a lens; fur paler and more chestnut-brown than any other of these minute shrews, and more silvery below.
SIZE.—Head and body, 1-5/8 inch; tail 1-1/8 inch.
HABITAT.—Calcutta.
DESCRIPTION.—Called melanodon from the remarkable colouring of its teeth, which are piceous and white-tipped; colour uniform fuscous, scarcely paler beneath.
SIZE.—Head and body, 1-7/8 inch; tail, 1-1/16 inch.
HABITAT.—Tenasserim.
DESCRIPTION.—"Remarkable for its naked feet and very large ears; also for the odoriferous glands on the sides being strongly developed, whereas we can detect them in no other of these minute species" (Blyth). Colour brown above, a little grizzled and glistening, more silvery below.
SIZE.—Head and body, 1¾ inch; tail, 1-1/16 inch.
HABITAT.—Khasia hills.
DESCRIPTION.—"Very dark colour, extending over the feet and tail which is even blackish underneath; fur blackish-brown above, a little tinged rufescent, and with dark greyish underneath; the feet and tail conspicuously furred, beside the scattered long hairs upon the latter."—Blyth.
This species was determined by Blyth on a single specimen, which was found without its head, impaled by some shrike upon a thorn at Cherrapunji. The same thing occasionally occurs in England, when the common shrew may be found impaled by the rufous-backed shrike (Lanius collurio).
The foregoing species being of the white-toothed variety (with the exception of S. melanodon, which, however, exhibits coloration decidedly the