Manchester Memoirs, Vol. hi. (191 2), No. T. 9 



which he reminded me strongly of the Mole, as he did also 

 by his inappeasable appetite (in which, however, he out- 

 moled the Mole) ; in his manner of lapping water ; by 

 the habit of thrusting his flexible trunklike snout 

 enquiringly upwards ; his powers of burrowing ; his 

 perfect indifference to being stroked or tickled, and lastly 

 by his apparent blindness or extreme short-sightedness. 



I may mention here that during the heat and drought 

 of this summer the coats of the Common Shrews have 

 been much lighter in colour than usual, white ears also 

 being v§ry common. Formerly white ears were found in, 

 perhaps, 2 per cent, of the specimens handled ; this year 

 they occurred in something like 25 per cent. 



