Genus Feroculus
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.
No. 138 Feroculus Macropus. — The Large-footed Shrew
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.
No. 139. Sorex Hodgsoni.
The Nepal Pigmy-Shrew (Jerdon’s No. 78).
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.
No. 140. Sorex Perroteti.
The Neilgherry Pigmy-Shrew (Jerdon’s No. 79).
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.
No. 141. SOREX MICRONYX.
The Small-clawed Pigmy-Shrew (Jerdon’s No. 80).
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.
No. 142. SOREX MELANODON.
The Black-toothed Pigmy-Shrew (Jerdon’s No. 81).
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.
← Back to Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon