and the most singular of
all is that known as the Star-nosed Mole. This creature has the
cartilage of the snout extended into five or six branches, that radiate
from each other, like spokes of a wheel, or the points of a star--hence
the name of star-nosed mole. The use of this singular appendage is not
clearly understood; and, indeed, it would appear to be an obstruction to
the natural requirements of the animal. No doubt, however, it has its
purpose--though that purpose be unknown to us.

The _Shrew-Mice_ are still another kind of small ratlike quadrupeds.
They are distinguished by having upon each flank, under the ordinary
skin, a little band of stiff and close hairs, from which an odoriferous
humour is distilled. They dig holes in the earth, which they seldom
come out of until towards evening; and their food consists of insects
and worms. A species that inhabits the Pyrenees, and also the mountains
of Russia, are called Desmans, and differ somewhat from the ordinary
shrew-mice. They are aquatic in their habits; and their burrows always
enter the ground below the level of the water. The Russian species are
usually termed Musk-rats; but these are not to be confounded with the
musk-rats of America--which last should undoubtedly be classed with the
beavers.

In India, the shrew-mice attain to the size of ordinary rats, and are
there also called musk-rats, from the fact that a strong odour of musk
is exhaled by them--so strong as to make the place through which the
animal passes exceedingly disagreeable. The same is true of the Russian
musk-rats, but for all that their skins are employed in chests
containing clothing: since the musky smell is a good preservative
against the moths.

In addition to the numerous rat animals above-mentioned, there are still
other kinds in different parts of the world--the names of which would
alone fill many pages. Hence it is that the study of this section of
the mammalia is, perhaps, the most difficult of all; and a true
classification of these small quadrupeds has hitherto proved a puzzle to
the most expert zoologists.

CHAPTER TEN.

BEAVERS.

Of true Beavers there is only one species--unless the beaver of the Old
World be different from the well-known animal of the American continent.
This is a question which has been much debated among naturalists; and
certainly the difference which is known to exist between the habits of
the two animals would seem to prove them dis