Twice nat. size. 
Genus. SOREX. 
The bones of Shrews, mixed with those of Field-mice, 
are sometimes found aggregated in extraordinary numbers 
in hedge-bottoms, beneath the foundation of walls or other 
parts of the soil. I examined, with Dr. Buckland, a 
remarkable accumulation of this kind in a mound, indi- 
cating the remains of an old Roman encampment, near 
Cirencester. Dr. E. D. Clarke transmitted to Sir Eve- 
rard Home a quantity of similar remains, as ‘“ bones of 
a species of Sorea, found regularly deposited im the soil 
in Cambridgeshire.” ‘These specimens, which are preserved 
in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, consist 
almost exclusively of remains of a small species of Avvicola. 
None of them can be regarded as true fossils. 
The remains of Shrew-mice, which have been found 
in the bone-cave called Kent’s Hole, near Torquay, and 
in the raised beaches near Plymouth, have offered no indi- 
cation of species distinct from those now existing in Great 
Britain. The best preserved specimen which I have seen 
is identical with the Sorex vulgaris.* 
The remains of Shrews from the lacustrine formations 
of Bacton and Ostend, Norfolk, appear to be referable to 
the Sorex fodiens, (cut 14, fig. 1, fossil, fig. 2, recent, mag- 
nified,) and to the Sorex remifer (fig. 3); the dentition of 
the jaws figured is not, however, in so complete a state as 
to allow of an unequivocal determination. 
* Sorex arancus, Bell, British Quadrupeds. 
