A manual of British vertebrate animals / [Leonard Jenyns].

  • Leonard Jenyns
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of British vertebrate animals / [Leonard Jenyns]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Sorex. ] MAMMALIA FERA. YW GEN. 9. TALPA, Linn. 18. T. Europea, Linn. (Mole.) T. Europea, Desm. Mammal. p.160. Elem. Brit. An. p.9. Mole, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. 1. p. 128. Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. 1. p. 515. i a ee Dimens. Length of the head and body five inches three lines; of the head one inch seven lines; of the tail one inch two lines. Descript. Body thick, oblong, almost cylindrical: snout sharp and slender: eyes extremely small; entirely concealed in the fur: no external ears: feet extremely short; the anterior pair larger, very robust, and inclining sideways: claws strong, as long as the toes themselves. Fur very soft and silky, shining, black or deep ash-colour, according to the direction in which it is viewed, sometimes white, or yellowish white. Common in England and Scotland, but said to be unknown in Ireland. Habits subterraneous: constructs galleries beneath the surface of the soil, which it throws up at intervals in hillocks. Feeds on worms and insects, but principally on the former. Breeds twice in the year, pro- ducing from four to six at each birth. GEN. 10. SOREX, Linn. 19. S$. Araneus, Linn. (Common Shrew.)—Reddish brown above; paler beneath: tail shorter than the body, somewhat square, not ciliated on its under surface. S. Araneus, Desm. Mammal. p. 149. Flem. Brit. An. p.8. Fetid Shrew, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. 1. p. 125. Common Shrew, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. 1. p. 527. pl. 118. Dimens. Length of the head and body two inches five lines; of the head one inch; of the ears two lines; of the tail one inch nine lines. Descripr. Somewhat variable in size and colours. Upper ‘parts ge- nerally dusky brown, more or less deep, with a tinge of red; under parts grayish white with a tinge of yellow: in some specimens a triangular whitish patch upon the throat: ears small, hardly showing themselyes above the fur, furnished internally with two lobes or duplicatures of the skin placed one above the other and fringed with hair: incisors deep ferruginous brown*: tail varying in length, always shorter than the body, roundish approaching to square, rather stout, of equal thickness throughout and blunt at its extremity, uniformly clothed with short dusky hairs, but having no fringe along its under surface: feet much smaller than in the other species of this genus, the toes scarcely ciliated. A very common species inhabiting gardens and hedge rows. Feeds on insects, and also on vegetable substances. Possesses a strong musky odour. * In the Ann. dw Mus. (tom. xvii. p. 176.) M. Geoffroy St Hilaire describes this species as having the incisors entirely white. This circumstance, together with one or two others, induces me to suspect that the S. Araneuws of the continenta] authors may be distinct from ours. B
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