4008 The Zoologist— June, 1874. 



Sibbaldii, B.Iaticeps, B. rostrata, Hyperoodon latifrons, Xiphius cavirostris. 

 Grampus griseus, Delpliinus acutus, aud D. albii'ostris. " — Preface, p. ix. 



This extract admits of the following qualifying remarks : — Sorex 

 pygraaeiis is identical with Sorex rusticiis of Jenjns, described by 

 that eminent naturalist at p. 417 of the 'Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History' for 1838. Professor Blasius was the first to point 

 out that it was the S. pygraaeus of Pallas {Saugethiere Deutsch- 

 lands, p. 153). On examining specimens presented by the Professor 

 to the Cambridge University Museum, the authors "can fully con- 

 firm the accuracy of Blasius' identification." The distinction 

 between this species [Sorex pygmaius) and the common shrew 

 {Sorex araneus) of Bell's first edition is very trifling ; its value 

 must, however, depend on its being perfectly constant or other- 

 wise. Here it is : — 



" The best characters to separate the lesser from the common shrew are 

 to be found in the teeth. In Sorex vulgaris the fifth single-pointed tooth 

 in the upper jaw, regarded \>y 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 in- 

 visible from the outside. In S. pygmiEus, on the other hand, these teeth 

 diminish regularly in size, and the fifth stands in the same fine as 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 tlie tail is a character in which the common species 

 is verj' variable." — P. 148 i. 



I shall be very pleased to go more carefully into this question at 

 a future time, and shall be obliged for the opportunity of inspecting 

 any specimen which may fall in the way of my readers. Although 

 it can scarcely be expected that we should obtain a precise know- 

 ledge of our marine sucklers, some of which we may not have the 

 opportunity of examining more than once or twice in a lifetime, yet 

 we really have no excuse for the prevalent ignorance about our bats, 

 our shrews, our mice, and our arvicoles. I pass on to the inhabitants 

 of ocean. 



Will my readers kindly refer to two papers by Dr. Gray, lately 

 published in the 'Zoologist?' they are intituled, "The Seals 

 {P/iocida;) that permanently reside in or occasionally visit the 

 British Islands, by Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., &c." (S. S. 3333), and 

 a " Catalogue of the Whales and Dolphins [Cetacea) inhabiting or 

 incidentally visiting the seas surrounding the British Islands, by 



