132 SORICID^— NEOMYS 



Distribution : — This Water Shrew ranges through arctic,, boreal, and 

 transitional Europe and Asia, from sea-level to at least . 6000 feet 

 (Blasius). It reaches the extreme north of Scotland (Bruce), and in 

 Skandinavia (whence I have seen specimens taken at 2200 feet by 

 Ticehurst), it is more or less numerous as far north as Finmarken 

 (70° 45' N. lat), and ascends the mountains to the tree line (Collett). 

 Thence its northern limit extends through north Russia and Siberia, 

 southwards to central Spain, Italy to Tuscany (where it is rare, but I 

 have seen a specimen from near Vallombrosa), Austria-Hungary (at least 

 to Hatzeg, south Carpathians), the Balkan States, northern Caucasus and 

 the districts of the lower Volga ; and from Great Britain eastwards at 

 least to Tomsk, the western Altais and the Jenesei. It is not found 

 in the Himalayas, records from that region being based upon confusion 

 with Gray's Crossopus himalayaicus, a Chimarrogale. 



It is not represented in America (see under genus Neomys). 



It is locally distributed all over Great Britain, westwards to the 

 Pembroke coast (Howell, Field, 29th April 1905, 726), and Anglesey 

 (Coward), northwards to Sutherland and Caithness (Bruce), eastwards and 

 southwards to the sea, but doubtfully to the Isle of Wight (Bury, 

 Zoologist, 1844, 780 ; Wadham). It is almost restricted to the mainland, 

 being absent from Ireland, Man, the Outer Hebrides, Orkneys (Baikie 

 and Heddle's record in Hist. Nat. Orcadensis, 14, being evidently an error) 

 and Shetlands ; but is not rare in Arran (Alston), and has been recorded 

 from Kerrera (Borrer, Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist., 1893, 1 1 1). I have seen an 

 Argyle specimen from an altitude of 500 feet ; Witchell and Strugnell 

 took one in a pond at 700 feet; and on the Stafford and Cheshire 

 border it is found at over 1000 feet (Coward and Oldham). 



Distribution in time : — All the earlier records of Neomys fodiens in 

 a fossil state in Britain {Sorex fodiens and 6'. remifer, Owen, British 

 Fossil Mammals, 1846, 28, Fig. 14, No. i ; Crossopus remifer, Lydekker, 

 Catalogue of Fossil Mammalia, 1885, i., 17) were based upon specimens 

 referable to species of Sorex. Hinton has recently examined the 

 fossil shrews of Britain, and finds that N. fodiens, or a very nearly 

 allied form, occurs in the latest pleistocene deposits, such as those of 

 Ightham fissures, Kent, and Dog Holes, Lancashire. 



Description : — The form, general characteristics, skull and teeth of 

 the Water Shrew are those of its genus. The under side of the tail 

 is provided with a " keel " or double fringe of strong hairs, which extends 

 in regular arrangement along the centre of the flat under-surface, but 

 varies very much in development individually. The whiskers are long 

 and numerous, reaching a length of at least 16 mm. 



In the hands and feet the toes are beautifully ciliated with fringes 

 of stiff hairs (see Plate XL). The first and fifth digits are longer than 

 in Sorex araneus, and resemble rather those of S. minutus. In the hand 



