NEOMYS 69 



as in Sorex nraneus araneits, the hypocones usually if not always 

 white.* 



Measurements. — In external measurements this species is 

 unusally variable, the head and body ranging from 72 to 96 mm., 

 tail from 47 to 77 mm., and hind foot from 16 to 20 mm. These 

 differences appear to be for the most part strictly individual. 

 The skull is more constant : condylobasal length, 1 9 '6 to 22 • 2 mm.; 

 upper tooth-row, 9*6 to 11 mm. Here the variation is to a 

 certain extent geographic, as the skull of the British race 

 averages smaller than that of the Continental form. 



SemnrJcs. — Neomys fodiens is the common and widely dis- 

 tributed water-shrew of Europe. It may always be recognized 

 by its large size, fringed feet and keeled tail. While the keel 

 varies greatlj' in depth and distinctness, some trace of it is 

 always present on basal half of tail, the region in which the 

 median hairs are never modified in the round-tailed members 

 of the genus. 



Neomys fodiens fodiens Schreber. 



1776. Sorex aquaticus P. L. S. Miiller, Natursyst. Suppl. u. Regist.-Band, 



p. 36 (Prance ; based on Buffon, viii, pi. 11). Not Sorex aquaticus 

 Linnseus, 175S. 



1777. Sorex fodiens Schreber, Saugthiere, iii, p. 571 (Berlin, Germany). 

 1777. [Sorex] dauhentonii Erxlebeu, Syst. Regni Amm., i, p. 124 (Burgundy, 



France ; based primarily on the Musaraigne d'eau of Daubenton, 

 Hist, de I'Acad. Roy. des Sci., Paris, 1756, p. 42). 

 1780. Sorex carinatus Hermann in Zimmermann, Geogr. Gesch., ii, p. 382 

 (Strassburg, Germany). 



1792. Sorex liricaudatus Kerr, Auim. Kingd., p. 208 (Strassburg, Germany ; 



based on Pennant's account of Sorex carinatus Hermann). 



1793. [Sort\r] fluviatilis Bechstein, Gemeinn. Naturgesch. Deutschlands, 



III, p. 746 (Suggested but not adopted as preferable to fodiens). 

 1793. Sorex eremita Meyer, Zool. Annalen, i, p. 323 (Thiiringen, Germany). 

 1793. Sorex fluviatilis Meyer, Zool. Annalen, i, p. 323 (Published as a 



synomym of Sorex eremita, perhaps from Bechstein MS.). 

 1800. S[orcx] flodiens'] alhus Bechstein, Thomas Pennant's Allgem. Uebers. 



vierfiiss. Thiere, ii, p. 723. 

 1811. Sorex hydrophilus Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., p. 130 (Berlin, 



Germany). 

 1811. Sorex lineatus Geoffroy, Ann. Mus. d'Hist. Nat., Paris, xvii, p. 181 



(Paris, France). Type in Paris Museum. 

 1811. Sorex rcmifer Geoffroy, Ann. Mus. d'Hist. Nat., Paris, xvii, p. 182 



(Abbeville, Somme, France). Tjpe in Paris Museum. 

 1818. Sorer collaris Desmarest, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., xxii, p. 65 



(Holland : islands at mouth of Escaut and Jleuse). Described 



but not named bv Geoffroy, M^m. Mus. d'Hist. Nat., Paris, I, 



p. 309, 1815. 



* In an adult male from Geneva, Switzerland (No. 104G Mottaz), the 

 right upper incisor and first unicuspid and right lower incisor are white 

 throughout. All other teeth normal. 



