ORDER III. INSECTIVORA.
(Insect-eating Animals.)
In their diminutive size, and the character of their food, the animals comprised in this Order agree with the majority of those which we have just noticed; but they have no extraordinary development of the skin, and consequently are destitute of any power of flight. Like the Bats, however, their activity is chiefly nocturnal, and they for the most part conceal themselves in burrows in the ground, as the former do in caves and hollow trees. ‘To enable them to feed on insects, their molar teeth are beset with conical points; the position and proportions of their canines and incisors vary in different genera. Their motions are comparatively feeble; the feet are short and slender, and the whole sole is placed upon the ground in walking. The snout is usually more or less lengthened.
The species, with the exception of the Shrews, are not very numerous; but they are scattered over both continents. South America and Australia are, however, destitute of them. In northern climates most of them pass the winter in a dormant insensibility. ‘They are arranged in three families, Erinaceadæ, Talpadæ, and Soricidæ, each of which is represented by British species.
