174 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



species of the Sorex. The charge of publishing this dis- 

 covery to the world remained with Hermann, but unfor- 

 tunately was not executed for a long time afterwards, and 

 even then, in a very imperfect manner, the professor being 

 obliged to return to the task several times. Thus, for in- 

 stance, he began by confiding the figures to Schreber, who 

 published them without any explanation. Boddaert, from 

 the same source, introduced three new Shrews into his Elen- 

 chus Animalium ; and it is only in a posthumous work of 

 Hermann, dated 1804, that we finally discover any details 

 concerning these singular animals. 



M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, being thus made acquainted 

 with the existence of several species of the Shrew in France, 

 was desirous of enriching with them the collection of the 

 Museum of Natural History. His correspondents supplied 

 him not only with those already noticed, but also with se- 

 veral others, which had hitherto escaped the researches of 

 naturalists. We shall now have the pleasure of presenting 

 our readers with the substance of his valuable observations 

 on this subject, in as condensed a form as possible. 



The first remark which may be made respecting this fa- 

 mily is, that there are.no genuine Shrews to be found, ex- 

 cepting in the ancient continent. Those which Gmelin 

 places in America, either belong to genera altogether dif- 

 ferent, or must, as utterly inauthentic, be blotted out en- 

 tirely from the catalogue of living beings. Thus we find 

 that the Sorex Aquaticus belongs to the Baron's new genus, 

 the Scalopes. The Sorex Cristatus is the Condylure of 

 Illiger ; the Sorex Brasiliensis is probably a Didelphis, and 

 the Sorex Surinamensis may be suppressed altogether. 



Among the species of the ancient continent there are 

 even some which must be withdrawn from the family of the 

 Sorex. The Sorex Auratus is the Chrysochlore of Count 

 Lacepede, and the Sorex Moschatus belongs to the sub- 

 division My gate. Exclusively of all these anomalous species, 



