84 SORICID^— SOREX 



be found under heading of Geographical Variation. Castaneus was 

 undoubtedly the first name bestowed definitely by its describer on a 

 British Common Shrew, and is therefore applicable to the native sub- 

 species. 



The majority of the technical names are based upon differences due 

 either to age, season, or individual variation. At least two, viz., tetragon- 

 urus and castaneus, have reference to sub-specific differences ; not, how- 

 ever, those observed by the original describers. Two, fodiens and remifei\ 

 have been transferred in error from another species. Although araneus 

 has undoubted precedence by priority for the species as a whole, there 

 has been in the past much confusion and misuse in its application, as 

 well as in that of vulgaris and tetragonurus. This arose from the 

 fact that, whereas in Skandinavia, as in England, there are but two 

 species of shrews, both red-toothed or true Sorices, on the Continent 

 of Europe generally there occur also the white-toothed shrews of 

 the genus Crocidura. To one of these, C. russula (Hermann), being 

 the commonest species of middle Europe, the name araneus was at 

 first somewhat naturally applied. When the identity of Linnseus's 

 araneus was discovered, some naturalists substituted for it the name 

 vulgaris, which, however, is antedated by araneus. Others, amongst 

 them MacGillivray and Alston, used the next available synonym, 

 tetragonurus, but none of them ventured to alter the name of the 

 Crocidura. This is, however, a case where, as Thomas has shown, the 

 rules of priority admit of no doubt, and accordingly they are followed 

 here. 



Jenyns in his Manual was the first to doubt the identity of the 

 animals st\ ed by British and continental writers araneus, a suspicion 

 which developed into conviction after he had read Duvernoy's paper of 

 1838. In that year Jenyns published an excellent essay, wherein, besides 

 minutely describing the dentition of the British Common Shrew, he 

 suggested the identity of British and Linnean araneus with Hermann's 

 tetragonurus (s&& Mag. Zool. and Bot., 1838, ii., 24-42; Ann. Nat. Hist., 

 August 1838,422-427; September 1838,43; and 1841,263-268). 



Terminology: — In the works of some writers shrews are known as 

 shrew-mice, but the Anglo-Saxon forerunner of the word was used only 

 as a substantive. Later, in consequence of the mischievous character 

 attributed to the animal, the word "shrew" became an adjective, 

 having the meaning " biting '' or " noxious." Since the term " shrew- 

 mouse" suggests a relationship which does not exist, its retention 

 seems to be undesirable. 



The older form schrewe came from the Anglo-Saxon screawa = 

 a shrew-mouse, as explained in Wright's Anglo-Saxon and Old English 

 Vocabularies, V^VLlckex's (2nd) ed., 1884, col. 122, line 20 : — " Mus araneus, 

 screawa" To the Latin araneus, which means " poisonous as a spider," 



