42 1 Rev. L. Jcnyns on the British Shrews. 



much larger : tail Blender, more quadrangular at all ages, and 



slightly attenuated at the tip ; clothed with closely-appressed 



hairs in the young state, in age nearly naked. 



s. tetragoQtirus, Duvertt. in Man. <le la Sue. d'/H.st. Nat. dc Strath, ii. 



LU\ 1 . p. 1 !». pi. l . /'. 2i — S. cuniculariuB, Bechst. Naturgesch. Deuttch. 



i. p. 879. pi. 10. f. 2. (?) — S. constrictus, (ieoff. Ann. dn Mu». xvii. p. 



178. (?) — S. Araneus, Var. 1. Mag. of Zuol. and Hot. ii. p. 37*. 



llab. More attached to marshy districts than the last species, though not 



confined to them. 



Var.fi. — S. castaneus, Jen. (chestnut shrew). — S.Aranetu, var.2. Mag. 

 of Zool. and Bot. ii. p. 39. 



llab. Found in marshes with the preceding. 



Not having been able to procure any more specimens of 

 this shrew, I shall still consider it as a mere variety of the S.te- 

 tragonurus, though a closer investigation of its characters has 

 led me strongly to suspect that it will one day be found to 

 constitute a distinct species. And in that case, the name 

 which I have given it above, derived from its peculiar colour, 

 might be adopted for it. The dimensions and distinguishing 

 characters of both sexes will be found in the ' Magazine of 

 Zoology and Botany/ as already quoted. In addition, how- 

 ever, to what is there stated, I may notice a slight difference 

 in the cranium, which is broader posteriorly and rather more 

 elevated in the crown than that of the S. tetragonurus, thus 

 accounting for the " fulness about the head" alluded to in my 

 first description of this variety. It is also slightly longer, and 

 these superior dimensions are even observable when compared 

 w ith those of the cranium of an aged specimen of S. tetra- 

 gonurus, of which the entire length exceeded by more than 

 half an inch that of the variety in question. The form of the 

 snout is not very different in these two shrews, but it is rather 

 more attenuated at the extreme tip in the chestnut than in the 

 square-tailed shrew. The dentition also is much the same. 



2. Hydrosorexj-j Duv. 

 Middle incisors in the lower jaw with an entire edge ; the 

 upper ones notched, or ivith the spur appearing as a point be- 



* Perhaps to this species is to be referred the large shrew mentioned 

 in Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, vol. iii. p. 471, met with in a 

 clover-field, which the writer was unable to identify with either of our then 

 known British species. 



t Denominated in M. Duvernoy's first memoir by the name of Amphi- 

 sorex. 



