4 SORICID.E. 



The Mole, Talpa Uuropcea, Linn., 



Is not indigenous to Ireland. 



It is singular, when entering Scotland and Wales, at the nearest ports 

 to Ireland, to see mole-hills in both those countries, almost as soon as we 

 land. They are very numerous along the coast of Ayrshire, just opposite 

 Antrim ; and I have remarked them close by the roadside in Anglesea, 

 near to Holyhead, which I mention on account of the tvestem position. 



12th Dec, 1838. — I examined the stomach of a mole, and found it en- 

 tirely filled with earthworms. One or two, which were quite perfect, were 

 of the short thick species, with the yellow band round the body. 



At Aberarder, about 16 miles from the town of Inverness, I remarked 

 burrows of the mole. 



Shrew, or Shrew-mouse, Sorex rusticus, Jenyns. 



This is the common shrew of Ireland, from North to South. 



My descriptive notes on the species, made from numerous specimens, 

 are not here required, as Mr. Jenyns has fully treated of it in the Ann. 

 Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 423, and vol. vii. p. 263. 



All the shrews from different localities in Antrim and Down — from the 

 Counties of Donegal, Fermanagh, and Armagh, and from Youghal, County 

 Cork, which have come under my examination (with the exception of 

 one specimen of the Sorex tetracionurus, to be hereafter noticed), are of 

 this species, which is the shrew-mouse of Ireland. It is found from the 

 low grounds to lofty mountain-tops, where these are clothed with verdure. 

 Rutty calls it the Erdshrew or Grassmouse. 



The Common Shrew (of Great Britain), Sorex tetragonurus, 

 Herm. 



I have seen but one native specimen of this shrew, which was procured 

 by the Ordnance collectors, near the Giant's Causeway. 



In the sorieidcB, as in some other Mammalia, we find a singular differ- 

 ence to prevail between those inhabiting Great Britain and Ireland, re- 

 spectively, the common species of each island being rare in the other. 

 As Sorex fetraf/onurus is the common one in Great Britain, so is Sorex 

 rusticus in Ireland. I have found the S. tetrarionurus dead about Leaming- 

 ton, WarAvickshire, and have received it from different parts of Ayrshire. 

 A specimen from the latter locality differed so much in colour from others 

 in my possession, that I was disposed to believe it S. castaneus, Jenyns, 

 Charl. Mag. Nat. Hist. 3, 581 ; but, indeed, this species can hardly be 

 considered as satisfactorily established. — See Annals, vol. vii. p. 267. 



From different parts of AjTshire I have received specimens of Sorex 

 fodiens, along with the S. tetragonurus. One of the former was caught 

 by a cat, and brought into the house, where it came under my notice in a 

 recent state. 



Its stomach was filled with insects and their larvae. 



Richard Chute, Esq., of Blennerville, County Kerry, informed me that 

 he caught, on the mountain above that village, a beautiful cream-coloured 

 slirew-mouse, in the summer of 1840. It was larger than the common 

 shrew, and he felt satisfied (without reference to colour) that it was of a 

 different species. The specimen was not presei'ved. 



