Vol. XXVIII, pp. 15-18 February 12, 1915 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



THE WATER SHREW OF NOVA SCOTIA. 

 BY GLOVER M. ALLEN. 



In the Bangs Collection, now the property of the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology, is a series of Water Shrews {Neosorex) 

 obtained some years ago by Mr. Outram Bangs in Nova Scotia. 

 These specimens I have lately had occasion to compare with 

 skins representing true N. albibarbis, collected in August, 1914, 

 near Tupper Lake in the Adirondacks of New York, by Messrs. 

 Thomas and Fritz Barbour, Dr. J. L. Huntington, and myself. 

 Much to my surprise the Nova Scotian specimens prove not to be 

 albibarbis but are at once distinguishable by the whitish under- 

 parts, bicolor tail, and more plumbeous instead of blackish 

 coloration above. In these respects they resemble N. palustris 

 of western North America, described by Richardson (Zool, 

 Journ., 1828, vol. 3, p. 517) as found in "marshy places from 

 Hudson Bay to the Rocky Mountains. " Although undoubtedly 

 the Nova Scotian race intergrades with palustris, it is much 

 smaller of skull and differs slightly in color. It may be known 

 as 



Neosorex palustris acadicus subsp. nov. 



Type, skin and skull 2046, Bangs Collection, Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology, from Digby, Nova Scotia; female, collected July 26, 1894, by 

 Outram Bangs. 



General Characters. — Body measurements as in palustris, but the 

 coloration above with a slightly brownish cast instead of clear dark 

 plumbeous, belly whitish or silvery, slightly clouded with brownish on 

 the chest; tail bicolor; skull and teeth smaller than in palustris. 



Description. — Entire dorsal surface of the body a very dark blackish 

 brown, slightly paler on the sides, which with the head and shoulders 

 are very slightly frosted through the presence of minute silvery tips to 



2— Proo. Biol. Soo. Wash., Vol. XXVIII, 1915. (15) 



