932 MR, I. G. S. MONTAGU ON A COLLECTIO^r OF 



Description. Both these forms exhibit a dark, clove-brown, 

 dorsal coloration and a light ventral surface with traces of pale 

 wash ; they ai-e thus indistinguishable in appearance from certain 

 specimens of Continental S. a. araneus. In size (head-and-body 

 and condylobasal lengths) they resemble the neighbouring High- 

 land S. a. castaneus in being small. The Grigha form, however, 

 has large cranial and jaw measurements not usually associated 

 with small length of skull. This may represent a secondary 

 development, or may represent certain survived characters from 

 the primitive general largeness. The sum of these characters 

 indicate that the Jura and Grigha shrews exhibit considerably 

 more affinity with S. a araneus than with S. a. castaneus, and it 

 would certainly be incongruous to leave them with the latter 

 group. While they exhibit sufficiently distinct combinations of 

 characters to justify separate recognition, the writer does not 

 propose, for reasons stated elsewhere, to obscure their relationships 

 by systematising them as subspecies. 



SoREX ARANEUS GRANTii Barrett-Hamilton & Hinton. 



Sorex grantii Barrett- Hamilton & Hinton, P. Z. S. 1913, 

 p. 824(1). 



Habitat. Islay. 



JVew Material examiiied and Dimensions. Five adults (2 cj* , 3 5 ), 

 one young adult ( $ ), and one aged specimen ( J ) collected by 

 Montagu in June 1922. 



HB. T. HP. 



8. Adult <?, 18.6.22 74, 37 12 



11. „ $, 18.6.22 66 35 12 



3. „ ?, 17.6.22 72 31 12 



7. „ ¥, 18.6.22. 77 37 12 



9. „ ?, 18.6.22 76 38 irS 



15. Young adult ?, 21,6.22 72 40 12 



12. Aged ^,19.6.22 60 39 13 



Average of 1922 adults (5) 73 35-6 11-9 



„ of all adults (23) 76-15 35-9 12-45 



Description. The new specimens of this form confirm the 

 description by Barrett-Hamilton and Hinton in (1). An exami- 

 nation of all specimens gives the following figui-es : — 



p^ present on both sides in 10 specimens, 45 p.c. of those examined. 

 „ „ ,, one side „ 5 „ 23 „ „ „ 



„ absent „ both sides „ 7 ,, 32 „ ,, „ 



No. 12 is a most remai-kable specimen, the discovery of which 

 has an important bearing on the bionomics of the shrew. 

 L. E. Adams collected data, his interpretation of which has been 

 generally accepted, demonstrating that S. a. castaneus is an 



