THE PYGMY OR LESSER SHREW 109 



chasing and calling on one another." Again, Mr F. Longman 

 has recently recorded a congregation estimated to include nearly 

 one hundred shrews.^ 



There is some evidence that shrews occasionally, at least, 

 combine to travel and hunt their prey in "packs," after the 

 fashion of the stoats and weasels. Mr H. J. Charbonnier, for 

 instance, has observed the present species travelling in small 

 parties of eight or ten, the individuals scattered over a few 

 yards, but all heading in one direction, and a similar record is 

 that of the late Canon H. B. Tristram,^ who met with nine or 

 ten Water Shrews hunting on the path of a plantation, a mile 

 from water, and it can hardly be doubted that these were family 

 parties of parents and offspring. 



It cannot be denied that the habits of the Common Shrew 

 render it an animal beneficial to the farmer and gardener, and 

 in every way worthy of protection. 



THE PYGMY OR LESSER SHREW. 



SOREX MINUTUS, Linnaeus. 



1766. SOREX MINUTUS, Carolus Linnaeus, Sy sterna Natures, xii., 73 ; described from 

 Jenesei River, Siberia ; Alston, Fauna of Scotland, 1880, 10 ; Thomas, Zoologist, 

 1895,43; Lydekker ; Beddard ; Johnston; Millais ; Trouessart (1910) ; Collett. 



1769. SOREX PYGMiEUS, Erich Laxmann, Sibirische Brief e, 72 (ed. Schlozer) ; 

 described from Barnaul, Tomsk, Western Siberia, 17th November 1764; Pallas, 

 Zoographia Rosso- Asiatica, i., 134-135, tab. x., fig. 4, 181 1 ; Blasius ; Fatio ; Bell 

 (ed. 2) ; Woodward and Sherborn ; Flower and Lydekker ; Winge. 



1774. (?)SOREX PUSILLUS, S. G. Gmelin, Reise durch Russland, iii., 499, tab. Ivii., 

 fig. I ; described from Persia ; Zimmermann, Geographische Geschichte des 

 Menschen, etc., 1780, ii., 385, sp. 317 ; Blanford, Eastern Persia, 1876, ii., 25-26. 



1780. SOREX MiNUTissiMUS, E. A. W. Zimmermann, op. cit., 385, sp. 319. 



1788. (?)SOREX CiECUTlENS, Erich Laxmann, Nova Acta Acad. Sci. Imp. (St Peters- 

 burg), iii., 285, 1 2th May 1785 ; described from Lake '&2Sk2\\ = S.pygmaus of Pallas ; 

 see Pallas, loc. cit., supra. 



1788. (?)SOREX EXILIS, J. F. Gmelin, Systetna Natures, i., ed. 13, 115, sp. 11 ; 

 described from the Jenesei River, Siberia. 



1806. SOREX CANALICULATUS, S. L Ljungh, Kongl. Vetenskaps Akadejniens Nya 

 Handlingar (Stockholm), xxvii., 263 ; described from Lommaryd Vicarage, 

 Northern Vedbo district, Jonkoping, Sweden. 



181 1. (?)SoREX GMELINI, P. S. Pallas, Zoographia Rosso- Asiatica, i., 134, tab. x., 

 fig- 3 > renaming 5. pusillus of S. G. Gmelin from Persia ; Blanford, op. cit., 

 1876, 26. 



> Field, 4th July 1908, 4. ^ Zoologist, 1853, 3905. 



H 2 



