228 Merriam Descriptions of Five New Shrews. 



on under parts; belly with a faint brownish tinge; tatl concolor with 

 upper and lower surfaces of body. 



Cranial and dental characters. Skull large and massive, widely different 

 from N. crawfordi and evotis ; braincase highly arched, as in Blarina inex- 

 icana, which it greatly resembles (see figure of skull of />. mt'.i-icana, N. 

 Am. Fauna, No. 10, pi. 1, fig. 11, Dec. 1895): constriction swollen; walls 

 of anterior nares thickened ; teeth white throughout, without trace of 

 color on tips ; molars swollen and crowded, not excavated posteriorly. 



Remarks. Mr. Nelson caught 3 specimens of this fine shrew near the 

 creek, just below the mouth of the canyon, at Milpillas. He says they 

 were living under shelter of logs, rocks, and banks in damp places grown 

 up to bushes and weeds away from the woods. 



Measurements (from dry skin*). Total length, 128; tail vertebra, 45; 

 hind foot, 15. Cranial measurements : total length of skull, including in 

 cisors, 23 ; greatest breadth, 10.5. 



Sorex sclateri f sp. nov. 



Type from Tumbala, Chiapas, Mexico (alt., 5000 ft,). No. 75872, 9 ad. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., Department of Agriculture Coll. Collected Oct. 23, 1895, 

 by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman. Original No. 8567. 



General characters. Size large ; tail long ; hind foot very long (16 mm.); 

 color similar to S. macrodon, but ears smaller, and skull very different. 



Color. Upper parts dusky, finely mixed with sepia brown, darkest 

 over the rump ; under parts seal brown ; tail dusky ; paler below, without 

 line of demarkation ; feet dusky. 



Cranial and dental characters. Skull large, long, and rather slender 

 (20 x 9 mm.) ; rostrum, palate, and dentition (in general) much as in S. 

 saussurei caudatus, but postpalatal region and braincase decidedly longer ; 

 interpterygoid fossa broad and long ; first and second unicuspids subequal 

 or second slightly the larger; third unicuspid, as seen from the side, de 

 cidedly larger than fourth ; as seen from below, subequal or slightly 

 smaller; teeth very white, the red tips greatly reduced. 



Remarks. Sorex sclateri is a very peculiar species, and does not seem to 

 be at all closely related to any of the other shrews known from Mexico or 

 Central America. The large size of the hind foot and peculiar elongation 

 of the postpalatal part of the skull suffice to distinguish it from the species 

 that approach it in size, while the relatively large size of the third uni- 

 cuspidate tooth is distinctive. Singularly enough, in general form of skull 

 and relative proportions of unicuspids Sorer sclateri resembles S. oreopolns, 

 a small short-tailed species inhabiting the Sierra Nevada de Colima of 

 Jalisco. 



Measurements. Type specimen: total length, 126; tail vertebrae, 52; 

 hind foot, 16. Average of 5 specimens from type locality : total length, 

 125; tail vertebra, 53; hind foot, 16. 



* Field measurements not yet received from collector, 

 f Named in honor of Dr. Philip Lutley Sclater, the distinguished Secre 

 tary of the Zoological Society of London. 



