of the British Shrews. 25 



think so by the circumstance of my having observed great differen- 

 ces amongst individuals usually considered as belonging to the same 

 species, and the belief that we had not attained to a knowledge of 

 the true value of those characters with which such differences were 

 connected. I had not, however, at the time the means of throwing 

 any further light on the subject. I was afterwards in hopes that 

 this might have been afforded by Mr Bell, whose accurate work on 

 the British Quadrupeds, now in course of publication, is proba- 

 bly familiar to all who are interested in the matter under consi- 

 deration. M. Duvernoy had also in the meantime published a me- 

 moir on the structure of these animals, which promised to afford 

 much assistance in the inquiry. It does not appear, however, that 

 the gentleman first alluded to had become acquainted with M. Du- 

 vernoy's memoir in time to avail himself of any information therein 

 contained, before the publication of the third part of the " British 

 Quadrupeds," in which the indigenous species of the genus Sorex 

 are illustrated. The subject consequently remained where it was ; 

 Mr Bell at the same time joining in the belief that it stood in need 

 of some further investigation, although not himself in possession of 

 the requisite facts to enable him at that time to undertake the in- 

 quiry. 



It was under these circumstances, and on the occasion of my be- 

 ing enabled to consult the entire memoir of M. Duvernoy, of which 

 I had previously only seen an abstract, that I determined a short 

 time since carefully to examine anew the characters of the British 

 species of this genus. I had also been fortunate in obtaining a few 

 specimens in addition to those which I possessed at the time of pub- 

 lishing the Manual above alluded to. The result of my inquiries 

 is what I purpose to communicate in the present paper ; and if I 

 have not succeeded in establishing any species which may be con- 

 sidered as new, I yet trust I shall be the means of drawing the at- 

 tention of naturalists to a few facts respecting the dentition of those 

 hitherto met with in this country, which, when considered in con- 

 nexion with M. Duvernoy's researches, must lead us to alter our 

 opinion respecting their supposed identity with others met with on 

 the Continent. 



I may commence by stating that M. Duvernoy's memoir, which 

 is entitled " Fragmens d'Histoire Naturelle systematique et phy- 

 siologique sur les Musaraignes," is contained in the second volume 

 of the Transactions of the Natural History Society of Strasburg. 

 The memoir bears the dates of June and December 1834, althouiih, 

 I believe, it was not published until the following year. Its lead- 



