M. A. C. Hinton — British Fossil Shrews. 531 



facette without lingual prolongation, foramen ovale not visible on 

 lower view of skull. 



The genus occurs in the Forest Bed and later British deposits. 

 With the exception of S. savini all the fossil species are small, forms 

 not exceeding S. araneus in size. 



Sorex savini, n.sp. (PL XXV, Figs. 6, 7, and Text-fig. la.) 



Sorex remifer, Owen, British Fossil Mammals, 1846, p. 28, fig. 14, No. 3. 



S. vulgaris, Newton, Vertebrata Forest Bed, 1882, p. 97, pi. xv, figs. 5-8 ; 



Woodward & Sherborn, Cat. Brit. Foss. Vert., 1890, p. 382. 

 " Sorex, large species " Newton, op. cit., p. 97, pi. xv, figs. 13, 14. 

 Crossopus remifer, Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Mam. B.M., pt. i, p. 17, 1885. 



[While this paper has been passing through the press the names of the new 

 species (herein fully described for the first time) have been published in Barrett 

 Hamilton's History of British Mammals, parts viii and ix, September and 

 November, 1911, pp. 80, 125.] 



Material examined. — (1) Two mandibular rami, left and right, the 

 latter the specimen figured by Owen (loc. cit. sup.) from the Upper 

 Freshwater Bed at Ostend (Green Coll., B.M., Nos. 17653 and 

 15949«); (2) two right rami and two fragmentary maxillae, figured by 

 Newton (loc. cit. sup., pi. xv, figs. 5-8), in the Museum of Practical 

 Geology ; (3) seven rami (five with posterior end) and several maxilla? 

 in the Savin Coll. (B.M. 6f54 and 6157); (4) fifty-four rami (thirty- 

 eight with posterior eud) and several maxillae in Mr. Savin's private 

 collection ; (5) posterior part of a right ramus in my own collection ; 

 in addition numerous limb-bones. Excepting the specimens in the 

 Green Collection the whole of this material was obtained from the 

 Upper Freshwater Bed at West Runton. 



Characters. — Size large (the dimensions of the remains of this and 

 other species are given in the tables of measurements at the end). 

 Mandible (Figs. 6, 7, la) : coronoid process large and stout, its 

 upper border broad and round, its outer surface having posteriorly 

 a well-marked and extensive fossa for insertion of the tendon of 

 the lower part of the temporal muscle and fibres from the separate 

 horizontal muscular band which runs below the temporal; condyle 

 very massive. Teeth stained 'deeply from summit to external 

 cingulum ; the latter well developed. Incisor (seen in seven jaws) 

 as in recent Sorex, with four denticles and three notches in moderately 

 worn specimens — the two posterior notches are the deeper ones. 

 Skull : known at present only from maxillary fragments ; posterior 

 border of infra-orbital canal above front edge of m. — ; lachrymal 

 foramen over middle of m. x . Two specimens (S.C. B.M. 6157 and 

 S.C. 637.5) 1 show that there were five unicuspid teeth as in recent 

 Sorex. Two specimens (S.C. B.M. 6157 and S.C. 637.7) have the 

 three posterior unicuspids in place and one or more are seen in several 

 other fragments. The unicuspids decrease in size regularly from 

 before backwards as in S. minutus and S. alpinus ; p. - projects 

 beyond cingulum of p. x , it is entirely visible externally and, although 



1 ' S.C. B.M. ' means 'Savin Collection, British Museum'; 'S.C' means 

 the more recently formed private collection of Mr. Savin. 



