122 SHREWS. 



towards the end, and are generally taken for 

 the middle incisors. Those on each side, in either 

 jaw, intervening between these lobed anterior teeth, 

 generally conical, simple, and diminishing in size 

 backwards, are held to be lateral incisors. How- 

 ever this may be, the Shrews may at once be dis- 

 tinguished from other small British quadrupeds 

 by their peculiar and remarkable dentition. The 

 Reverend Mr Jenyns, to whose researches among 

 the vertebrate animals we are so much indebted, has 

 published, in the second volume of the Magazine 

 of Zoology and Botany, some very interesting ob- 

 servations on these animals, which are as yet by no 

 means satisfactorily described. He is of opinion 

 that our Sorex araneus and S.fodiens are not iden- 

 tical with the animals bearing the same names on 

 the Continent, and that, probably, several other 

 species may be found in this country ; but as the 

 subject is still involved in obscurity, it may be 

 judged sufficient here to describe the three which 

 are known, leaving with them the names that have 

 been generally applied to them by British writers. 



