CARNIVORA. 
S79 
and is found in this country, as well as in Europe 
generally, and in parts of Asia. It inhabits the banks 
of rivers 5 and seeks its prey, principally frogs, during 
twilight. The adaptation of the water shrew to the 
aquatic mode of life is apparent in the ear of this 
animal, which can be closed almost hermetically, or 
so as to resist the influx of water, by means of three 
valves, capable of being employed for this purpose. 
The stiff hairs which border the feet also afford the 
animal a facility for swimming, which the common 
shrew does not require. 
THE SQUARE-TAILED SHREW. LA MUSARAIGNE 
CURRELET. 
Sorex Tetragonurus. Herman. 
This species is about the size of the common shrew, 
but has the tail more decidedly quadrangular, and 
has two more canine or ambiguous teeth. The colour 
is a fine black above, and a cinereous gray beneath. 
Like the common shrew it appears to eat grain. It 
is an inhabitant of Europe. 
Another species is described by Herman, under 
the epithet constrictus^ which Dr. Shaw calls the 
whitish-tailed shrew. It appears to differ from the 
common species principally in having the tail flatted 
at the base and extremity, but rounded in the middle; 
and in having two more canine teeth. 
The sorea^ lineatus, sorex remifer^ and sorex collaris, 
are described by Geoffroy in the seventeenth volume 
