Vol. XXIII, pp. 101-102 June 24, 1910 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



A NEW MICROSOREX FROM THE VICINITY OFn^^ ^-/as' 

 WASHINGTON, D. C. \^ # 



BY EDWARD A. PREBLE. 



On April 25, 1903, while searching for salamanders in com- 

 pany with W. H. Osgood and W. P. Hay on the Virginia shore 

 of the Potomac above Plunnner's Island, I dislodged from the 

 decayed interior of a large fallen log a tiny shrew. The rarity 

 of any species of long-tailed shrew in the vicinity of Washington 

 caused me to take special pains in preserving the specimen. 

 Later, when I examined it carefully, I was surprised to find that 

 it belonged to the genus Microsorex, hitherto unknown to occur 

 south of Ohio and New York. It was apparent that the specimen 

 represented an undescribed form, but its characterization was 

 deferred in the hope that other specimens would be detected. 

 This did not occur until January 24 of the present year, when 

 William Fink of Berwyn, Maryland, found a second specimen 

 in the decayed heart of a dead chestnut tree, which he cut from 

 a dry hillside at some distance from water. He presented it to 

 the U. S. National Museum, and owing to the courtesy of the 

 curator of mammals it has been loaned to me for study. Unfor- 

 tunately the condition of the specimen at the time it reached the 

 museum precluded its being made into a skin, and it was put 

 into alcohol. Consequently it is not possible to describe the 

 color of the winter pelage. It was carefully measured while in 

 the flesh, however, and the skull was removed. Since it agrees 

 closely in measurements and skull characters with the original 

 specimen, there remains no doubt as to the advisability of 

 describing the species, which may be known as 



Microsorex winnemana sp. nov. 



Type from Fairfax County (hank of Potomac River near Stubblefield 

 Falls), Virginia. No. 126,320 U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey 



24— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XXIII. 1910. (101) 



