Class I. WATER SHREW. 155 



Sorex fodiens. S. cauda medio- Sorex fodiens, Pallas ined. 33. Water. 



cri subnuda, corpore nigri- Linn. Tr. vii. 276. 



cante subtus cinereo, digitis La Musaraigne d'Eau, de 



ciliatis. Gm.Lin.\\3. Biiffon. Tom. vi'ii. 64. 



Mus araneus dorso nigro A'en- Water Shrew, Hisf. quad, 



treque albo. Merret Pinax. ii. No, 42g. p. 225. 



167. 



XHIS species inhabits the banks of ditches, Manners, 

 and other wet situations, and is in some places 

 called the Blind Mouse, from the smallness of 

 its eyes. The Germans call it Grceber or digger. 

 I imagine it to be the same which the inhabitants 

 of Sutherland call the water mole, and those of 

 Cathness, the La'vellan, which the last imagine 

 poisons their cattle, and is held by them in great 

 abhorrence. It burrows in banks near the water, 

 and according to M. de Biiffon brings nine 

 young. It was known to Dr. Merret above a 

 century ago, but lost again till within these few 

 years, when it was found to inhabit Lmcoln- 

 skire, and Lancashire* 



Its length from nose to tail is three inches and Descrip- 



1 1-1 -11 TION. 



three quarters ; the tail two mches : the nose 

 long and slender ; ears minute ; eyes very small 

 and hid in the fur ; the color of the head and 



* It has also been seen about the same period by the reverend 

 Hugh Davies, near Aher in Caernarvonshire, and more recently 

 ■by George Montagu esq. in Devonshire, Ed. 



