274 FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM ZOOLOGY, VOL. i. 



ORDER INSECTIVORA. 



FAM. 



27. Sorex vagrans. 



Sorex vagrans. Baird, Mamm. N. Am., vol. viii. , 1857, p. 

 15, pi. xxvi. 



This shrew was quite numerous and would frequently be found 

 in the traps set for mice and other larger animals. It seemed to be 

 equally abundant along the banks of the Elwah River and on the 

 tops of the mountains, as about 'half the specimens were taken at 

 Happy and Boulder Lakes. The color of the different examples 

 do not vary, one only being very dark, a kind of blackish-brown, 

 this probably being winter pelage, and the total length ranged 

 from 92 to no mm., the latter a rather exceptional size. 



Twelve specimens: 6, Johnson's Ranch, Elwah River; 6, 

 Happy Lake. 



28. Sorex setosus, sp. nov. 



Two rather large shrews were procured in the vicinity of Happy 

 Lake which differ from any I have ever seen or known to be 

 described, in having a bunch of stiff bristles on a rather bare spot 

 on the sides of the body about half-way between the fore and hind 

 legs. These may cover a gland. On the animal, when in the 

 flesh, they were even more conspicuous than they now are in the 

 skin, and could be moved about and spread open quite freely. 

 This shrew may be described as follows: 



General character: Larger than either S. vagrans or S. obscu- 

 rus, similar in the color of the back but with brighter sides, and 

 greyish-white beneath with a tint of buff. Third unicuspid 

 smaller than fourth. Tail about one-fifth shorter than body and 

 head. 



Color: Entire upper parts light cassell brown with a greyish 

 sheen upon it, which causes it to vary in depth according to the 

 light in which the specimen is held. Flanks, brownish ochre, 

 with a spot denuded of fur in the center, covered by a bunch of 

 buff-colored bristles. Under parts greyish-white, almost silvery 

 in certain lights, tinted with buff. Legs and feet flesh color. 

 Tail dark brown above, yellowish-white beneath. 



Cranial characters: Skull 18 mm. from occiput to end of 

 nasals ; greatest width of brain case, 8 mm. Palate wide poste- 





