K 12 British Columbia. 1921 



of front incisor teeth ; those of the upper jaw being long and generally sickle-shaped, with a 

 more or less distinct cusp at the base of their hinder border, while in the lower jaw they are 

 long and project horizontally forwards, in some instances curving upward at the tips, and, with 

 the exception of perhaps one African species, have only six teeth on each side of the lower jaw. 



With the exception of a few species which have taken to an aquatic life, the shrews are 

 terrestrial and nocturnal in their habits. Shrews have a wider distribution than any other 

 family of the Insectivores and comprise a far larger number of species. 



Until quite recent years there appears to have been a diversified opinion in the nomenclature 

 applied to many of our shrews. 



In 1895 three papers by C. Hart Merriam and Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., were published by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture (Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy) in the 

 " North American Fauna," No. 10, revising the shrews of the American genera Marina and 

 Notiosorcx; the long-tailed shrews of the Eastern United States; and a general synopsis of 

 the American shrews of the genus Sorex. From this revision we are able to some extent to 

 classify the shrews occurring within our limits. 



From a perusal of these papers it is proposed here to briefly outline the earlier-known history 

 of our shrews, which may be acceptable to some of our readers interested in the study of our 

 smaller mammals. 



For a long period the short-tailed shrews of the genera Marina and Notiosorcx, which so 

 far as we know do not occur within our limits, were included in the genus Sorex, and were first 

 separated by Gray in 1S3S under the name of Marina proposed as a subgenus ; in 1S42 Marina 

 was raised to full generic rank by Lesson; Baird in 1S57 divided the genus Marina in two 

 sections according to the number of teeth, and Coues in 1S77 recognized and named these sections 

 as subgenera, Marina proper with thirty-two teeth and Soriciscus with thirty ; the reduction 

 being in the unicuspids, of which there are five in Marina proper, as in true Sorex, and only 

 four in Soriciscus. The lost tooth in the latter subgenus is the second premolar. 



The first short-tailed shrews known to naturalists were two specimens secured by Mr. Say, 

 naturalist to Major Long's expedition to the Rocky Mountains in Eastern Nehraska, a few miles 

 north of the present City of Omaha. These two specimens curiously became the types of the 

 largest and smallest species of the genus Marina, and later of the two subgenera into which the 

 genus was split, collected during the winter of 1S19-20 and described by Mr. Say iu 1823. the 

 larger as Sorex brevicaudus, the smaller as Sorex parvus. 



Long-tailed Shrews of the Genus Sorex. 



The first account of an American marsh-shrew was published in 1S2S, when Richardson 

 described Sorex palustris, an animal he had found frequenting the borders of lakes in the region 

 between Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains. In 1857 Baird placed Sorex palustris among the 

 species unknown to him, but which he considered as probably worthy of recognition, at the same 

 time describing the new genus Neosorex and the species Ncosorex navigator from Washington. 



Our first accurate knowledge of Sorex palustris dates from 1S90, when Dr. Dobson figured 

 the teeth of the type specimen, and iu another paper published the same year discussed the 

 validity of the genus Ncosorex, coming to the conclusion that Sorer palustris and Ncosorex 

 navigator are the same, and that Neosorex, so far from being a genus, cannot even be recognized 

 as a subgenus; a year later Dr. Merriam recorded Sorex palustris from Idaho, at the same time 

 remarking that he considered Neosorex a very good subgenus. 



The type specimen of Sorex palustris is in the British Museum ; while its condition is such 

 as to furnish no evidence, it was deemed necessary to judge the old descriptions on their own 

 merits, and as all the early accounts of Sorex palustris refer to its pale, ash-grey belly, and as 

 the geographical range, indefinite though it is, coincides with that of the Western animal, it is 

 proper to apply the name to the latter. 



That the type of Sorex palustris is a Ncosorex and not an Atophyrax is shown by the teeth, 

 which are nearly unworn; Ncosorex is confined to North America, and, although not closely 

 related to the Old World Crossopus, shows a remarkable comparison with the latter, both in 

 habits and external appearance, both being aquatic, inhabiting marshes and the borders of 

 streams. 



All American shrews have two pelages commonly known as winter and summer coats, and, 

 as is usual among small mammals, the moult takes place at different dates among individuals 



