Counties of Aberdeen^ Banff, and Kincardine. 391 



There is reason to believe that it becomes torpid in winter, it be- 

 ing never heard or seen during the cold months of December and 

 January. Its periods of parturition, and its mode of nestling, are 

 not known to me from observation ; nor have I found any person 

 who could give information respecting them. But a female, which 

 I opened on the 30th of June 1843, contained eight young ones ; 

 and in one examined on the 14th July there were seven. These 

 are positive facts, worth any number of conjectures. The teats are 

 eight. The young are of a light brown above, and have the hairs 

 on the tail proportionally longer and a little more spreading. In 

 September they moult, and assume a dark brown fur on the upper 

 parts. 



The moult of the adults takes place in the beginning of summer, 

 and is generally completed by the middle of June, when the colour 

 of the upper parts is darker, and the hair of the feet and under part 

 of the tail brownish-white and silky. 



Small individuals, found when the tints of the fur are faded, might 

 seem to belong to Mr Jenyns's sorex rusticus. I have seen many 

 such specimens ; but still there is a distinct species, race, or variety, 

 which occurs with us, and apparently in equal numbers. It does not 

 differ materially in colour from the other ; but may be distinguished 

 by its smaller size, narrower head, longer and broader snout, some- 

 what stronger feet, and proportionally longer and thicker tail, which 

 is four-sided, as in the other, but has the hairs a little spreading. 



Oui' country people name sorex tetragonurus the Thraw Mouse. 



Sorex tetragonurus, Jen. Ann. Nat. Hist., i. 423. 



Sorex araneus, Jen. Brit. Vert. Anim., 17. 



Sorex araneus, Bell, Brit. Quadr., 109. 



Sorex araneus, Penn. Brit. Zool., i. 125. 



2. Sore^ Rnsticiis. Field Shrew. 



Dusky brown above, brownish-grey on the sides, greyish- white be- 

 neath ; feet very small, with short hairs ; tail more than half the length 

 of the body and head, four-sided, narrower at the base, of nearly equal 

 breadth throughout, depressed toward the end ; flat beneath, covered 

 with short, slightly-spreading hairs, forming a pointed terminal tuft ; 

 upper canine tooth bilobate, with the lobes obtuse, the anterior consi- 

 derably longer ; first and second small molar tooth nearly equal, and 

 level with the basal lobe of the canine tooth ; third much smaller ; fourth 

 somewhat less ; fifth very small, inconspicuous, partly from being placed 

 a little within the line of the rest ; lower canine tooth directed forwards, 

 and with three semicircular lobes on the edge, gradually decreasing from 

 the front ; teeth tipped with reddish-brown. 



As the description of this species would be in most respects the same 

 as that of Sorex Tetragonurus, it will be enough here to point out the 

 circumstances in which they agree and differ. They are both dusky 

 brown above, greyish-white beneath, and brownish or reddish-grey on 

 the sides ; the number and form of their teeth is the same ; their feet 

 and tail are similar. When their pile is new, ihey are of a deep brown 

 above, and the tail is well covered with fine hairs, and those at the tip 



