Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ivi. (19 12), No. H. 3 



On October 8th the upper part of the head and face 

 began to darken, and by October nth the whole upper 

 surface of the body from nose to tail was of the normal 

 dark colour. Thus, if one may judge from the behaviour 

 of a single captive specimen, the moult is completed in 

 nine or ten days. 



In the autumn moult I have only seen a single instance 

 where there was a line of demarcation between the two 

 coats, the dark patch of the winter coat appearing shorter 

 than the surrounding brown ; also loose hairs were not 

 conspicuous, except in the case of a Lesser Shrew, the 

 loose hairs of which called my attention to the fact that 

 moulting was in progress. Indeed, were it not for the 

 dark colour of the winter coat of the Common Shrew 

 contrasting with the light brown of the juvenile pelage 

 the autumn moult might escape notice altogether, 



I have examined nearly seventy specimens of the 

 Common Shrew during August, September, October and 

 November, about fifty of which were in the act of moulting, 

 and in every case these were young, brown individuals, 

 born during the current year — the significance of which I 

 have commented upon when dealing with the spring 

 moult. 



Of course, the fact that all the summer and autumn 

 adults which have been examined show no trace of 

 reclothing is negative evidence ; but then the whole of the 

 evidence in favour of the theory is of necessity of a 

 negative character, the value of it consisting in the 

 accumulation of facts which all point in one direction, and 

 also in the absence of a single exception to the facts, 

 though exceptions have been most carefully watched for. 

 Altogether more than 500 specimens have been examined. 



The evidence for the annual extinction of the parent 

 generation may be summarised as follows : — 



