VOL. XI, PP. 227-230 JULY 15, 1897 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



DESCRIPTIONS OF FIVE NEW SHREWS FROM MEX 

 ICO, GUATEMALA, AND COLOMBIA. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM. 



Blarina thomasi sp. nov. 



Type from Plains of Bogota, Colombia (on G. 0. Child's estate near 

 City of Bogota, alt. about 9000 feet). Collected Nov. 14, 1895. Type in 

 British Museum. 



General characters. Size large ; coloration sooty-plumbeous. Similar to 

 B. fossor, but fore feet very much smaller and molariform teeth not exca 

 vated posteriorily. 



Color. Sooty plumbeous, darkest on the back. 



Cranial and dental characters. Skull and palate almost exactly as in B. 

 fossor, but molariform teeth solid (not excavated posteriorly) and uni- 

 cnspidate teeth with inner cusp behind instead of in front (on postero- 

 internal instead of antero-internal angle). 



Remarks. For the opportunity to describe this very interesting shrew 

 I am indebted to Mr. Oldfield Thomas, Curator of Mammals in the Brit 

 ish Museum, who sent me seven specimens from the type locality. Here 

 tofore the genus Blarina has not been recorded from any point south of 

 Costa Rica; hence the discovery of the present species in South America 

 is of unusual interest. 



Measurements (from dry skin). Total length, 110; tail vertebrae, 28 5 

 hind foot, 14.5; skull, 21x10. 



Notiosorex gigas sp. nov. 



Type from Mts. at Milpillas, near San Sebastian, Jalisco, Mexico. No. 

 880 12, $ ad. U. S. Nat. Mus., Biological Survey Coll. Collected March 

 15, 1897, by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman. Original No. 10706. 



General characters. Similar to Notiosorex crawfordi, but very much 

 larger; tail relatively as well as actually longer. 



Color. Uniform slate gray, slightly darker on rump and slightly paler 



53-HioL. Soc. WASH., VOL. XI, 1897 (227) 



