LONGEVITY. 343 



hours*; and the common shrew (Sorex araneus, 

 FLEMING) is often observed to be subject to great 

 mortality in the autumn f, numbers of the dead 

 bodies being- found strewed in paths, by gateways, 

 and in garden walks. Mr. Knapp is inclined to 

 suppose these to have been destroyed by cats and 

 other prowling animals, who do not eat them \ ; but 

 we much doubt whether we can in this way account 

 for the numbers frequently seen. At all events, we 

 cannot so explain the following facts stated by Mr. 

 Marshall: at Ceylon, " in 1806, 1807, 1815, 1816, 

 a murrain of a very malignant kind prevailed among 

 black cattle ; at the same time a dreadfully fatal 

 disease prevailed among the wild elephants, hogs, 

 deer, and elks. In some places of the Batticuloe 

 district, where wild hogs abound, the bodies of seve- 

 ral hundreds of these animals were found collected 

 within a very limited space ." Dutertre mentions 

 a similar mortality among pelicans, particularly the 

 young birds, in September, 1656, and says that " all 

 the coasts of St. Alousia, of St. Vincent, of Becouya, 

 and of all the Grenadines, were strewed with the 

 dead carcases ||." 



It is, indeed, as well remarked by Mr. Knapp, 

 " difficult, from many circumstances, to form an 

 accurate statement of the natural duration of animal 

 life, the wild creatures being in great measure re- 

 moved from observation, and those in a condition of 

 domestication being seldom permitted to live as long 

 as their bodily strength would allow. It was for- 

 merly supposed that the length of animal life was in 

 proportion to its duration in utero, or the space it 

 remained in the parent, from conception to birth, 



* J. R. t Fleming. Brit. Anim. p. 8. 



J Journal of a Naturalist, p. 148. 

 Marshall, Diseases of Ceylon, p. 16. 

 j| Histoire Generate des Antilles, ii.271 



