Seasonal changes in the brain weight of the common shrew ( Sorex araneus araneus Linnaeus, 1758)

Abstract

The seasonal changes discovered by D e h n e 1 (1949) in the height of the skull of the common shrew (Sosex L.) have been confirmed in the following years by many authors (K u b i k, 1951: P u c e k, 1955; 1957; C a bo ri, 1956; S c h u b a r t h, 1958; C r o w c r o f t & I n g 1 e s, 1959). Investi- gation has been made of the mechanism reducing the height of the skull in the winter period, the morphological expression of which are the resorption processes and rebuilding of the bone tissue of the cranial arch (Puce k, 1957). Schubarth (1.c.) and Crowcroft & Ingles (1.c.) basing their findings on examination of a large number of shrews, confirmed the occurrence of D e h n e 1's phenomenon in the area comprised by Germany and England. It would therefore appear that this phenomenon may take pla- ce at least in those species of shrew which inhabit the northern zone of their geographical range.