1486 SORICIDiE. 



by him to the Cambridge University Museum^ and can 

 fully confirm the accuracy of Blasius's identification. 



The Lesser Shrew is distributed throughout the greater 

 part of Europe, Northern Asia, and North Africa, but is 

 nowhere so abundant as the last species. It appears to 

 be generally distributed throughout England, Scotland, 

 and Ireland. 



In its habits it seems to agree with the Common 

 Shrew. Blasius remarks that it is not so often seen 

 abroad during the day, and it is subject to the same 

 mysterious mortality in autumn. 



The best characters to separate the Lesser from the 

 Common Shrew are to be found in the teeth. In 

 S. vulgaris the fifth single-pointed tooth in the upper jaw 

 — regarded by Dr. E. Brandt as a minute canine — is 

 extremely small, and is out of the line of the others, so 

 as to be almost entirely invisible from the outside. In 

 S. pygmaus, on the otlier hand, these teeth diminish 

 regularly in size, and the fifth stands in the same line 

 with the rest, so as to be plainly discernible externally. 

 In both species the front incisors have brown tips. In 

 the Lesser Shrew the white of the lower parts is clearer, 

 and the tail, which is longer in proportion, is more hairy 

 at all ages, but it must be remarked that the last is a 

 character in which the Common species is very variable. 



AVith the exception of the Sorex suaveolens of Pallas, 

 this is the smallest of European mammals ; the average 

 length of its head and body being about two inches, 

 though some individuals are rather larger. The follow- 

 ing are the measurements in inches and decimals of a 

 Scotch specimen in our own collection : — 



Length of the head and body . . . 1 '97 in. 

 ,, of the tail . . . . . 1'4 ,, 

 ,, of the hind-foot . . . . *4 ,, 



