264 Rev. L. Jenyns on some of 



mon species in that country, and much more abundant there 

 than in England, where it gives place in a great measure to 

 the S. tetragonurus. It has also been observed in very dif- 

 ferent localities in Ireland ; and one specimen sent to me by 

 Mr. Thompson was stated to have been taken in the county 

 of Antrim, at an elevation of 1200 feet above the sea. 



Everything that I have stated in the paper above alluded 

 to, w ith respect to the characters of the S. rusticus, and the 

 distinguishing marks by which it may be known from the 

 S. tetrayonurus, is applicable to the Irish Shrew, excepting as 

 regards the cranium (p. 420) ; and I must beg, that what I 

 have said on that point be considered as erased, having since 

 ascertained that I was led into an error by the examination 

 of a specimen, the cranium of w hich did not exhibit its true 

 form from the manner in which it had been prepared. 

 Moreover, it was this error which partly led me to regard 

 the English and Irish specimens of S. Hibernicus as distinct. 

 In fact, the cranium of the species just named does not diifer 

 from that of the S. tetragonurus, except in being much smaller. 

 The following are their respective dimensions : — 



Length. Breadth. Heiglit. 

 lines. lines. lines. 

 Cranium of a middle-sized i*. /cirr/^onM/-«s 9^ 4 J 2% 

 of an old full-grown S. Hibernicus 7i 3^ 2 



The dimensions indeed, generally, of this last species are so 

 much less than those of the former, that it is hardly possible 

 to mistake them, especially if attention be paid to the feet, 

 and also to the tail and attenuation of the snout. Perhaps I 

 have rather over-stated the average dimensions of the S. 

 Hibernicus in my former memoir (called there S. rusticus), 

 when I set them at " hardly 2| inches "; but I had not then 

 seen so many individuals. None of those submitted to my 

 examination by Mr. Thompson exceeded 2 inches and 2| 

 lines ; and I doubt whether in general the species much 

 exceeds that size. The specimen to which I alluded as 

 being 2 inches and S lines, I am now inclined to think must 

 have been a S. tetragonurus, which often reaches 3 inches. 



In respect to the internal structure of these two species, 

 which I have examined and compared, I see no very import- 

 ant ditferences between them. The stomach is of a very 

 peculiar form in both, having its jjyloric portion so extra- 

 ordinarily elongated, that it might easily be mistaken for a 

 portion of the intestine itself. This, indeed, as well as other 

 points in the anatomy of these animals, would deserve further 

 notice, but for the circumstance of M. Duvernoy's memoir*, 



* Mem. de la Soc. du Mus. d'Hist. Nut. de Strasboure;, torn. ii. mem. 2. 



