The Mammals of the Edinhurgh or Forth Area. 389 



History (1893, p. 146). This is the East Lothian record 

 mentioned in vol. i. of Mr Millais's book; and it is but 

 the second occurrence of the species in Scotland. 



Hedgehog {Erinaceus europceus (L.) ). 



To the early records north of the Forth given in my first 

 paper, the following from the New Statistical Account 

 of the Parish of Alloa, 1846, should perhaps be added: — 

 " Not known in the parish when the Old Statistical Account 

 was written. It is now found in the woods " (vol. viii., 

 Clackmannanshire, p. 9). 



As evidence of the continued abundance of this animal 

 in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, I may mention that 

 close on a hundred were killed on the estate of Mortonhall 

 during 1903. 



A few years ago Captain Barrett-Hamilton proposed to 

 separate the British Hedgehog from Continental ones, 

 under the sub -specific name of Erinaeeus europceus 

 occidentalis, taking as the type a specimen in the British 

 Museum, from Haddingtonshire. The character he relied 

 upon — a slight cranial difference — in separating British 

 from typical (Scandinavian) E. europceus, is, Dr Lonneberg 

 states, not constant, and is not borne out by the examination 

 of a series of Swedish specimens. E. e. occidentalis was 

 therefore apparently premature, as Captain Barrett-Hamilton 

 has himself admitted (see Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1900 and 

 1901). Our Hedgehogs are much infested by a species of 

 flea, Pulex erinacei, Bouche.^ 



Lesser Shrew {Sorex minutus (L.) ). 



The Lesser Shrew is widely distributed in the Forth area, 

 and common, more especially, it seems to me, in the moor- 

 land districts. This conclusion is based on observations 

 extending over a period of fully fifteen years. Since the 

 publication of my book, I have met with examples, dead or 

 alive, on a good many occasions, among them being the 



^ For records of this and other Pulicidce from Forth Mammals and 

 Birds, see my notes in Ann. Scot, Nat, Hist., 1904 and 1906, 



