Scent glands of the short-tailed shrew

✍ Scribed by Pearson, Oliver P.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1946
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 836 KB
• Volume: 94
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-276X
• DOI: 10.1002/ar.1090940405

✦ Synopsis

The lateral and ventral scent glands of the Short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda, have been described by Couch (1896) and by Eadie ( '38). Between these dates many authors referred to the lateral glands, but curiously, the ventral gland was not mentioned. I have attempted in this paper to describe further and present illustrations of both glands, to record disagreement with some of Eadie's statements, and to investigate the causes of sexual arid seasonal variations in the glands.

Microscopic sections were made of the dermal glands of about sixty Short-tailed shrews caught in Mai*yland, P e n n s yvania, New York, and llassachusetts, and more than 300 were dissected and examined grossly. Wild, captive, and captiveraised shrews of both sexes were studied, as well as castrated individuals. Several specimens of the Long-tailed shrew, Sorex cinereus, were compared with them. Various preservatives were used, but most of the specimens were fixed ill Bouin's fluid and stained very satisfactorily with Mallory 's triple stain.

DESCRIPTION O F T H E GLANDS

The three glandular areas lie in the skin, one on each flaiilr and one in the ventral midline of the abdomen. Schmidt ( '31) stated that there were also scent glands a t the base of the tail, but I have not been able to find them and believe that 615