Vol. XI, pp. 227-230 



PROCEEDINGS 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



vp' 



DESCRIPTEONS OF FIVE NEW SHREWS FROM MEX- 

 ICO, GUATEMALA, AND COLOMBIA. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM. 



Blarina thomasi 



sp. nov. 



Tijpe from Plains of Bogota, Colombia (on G. O. Child's estate near 

 City of Bogota, alt. al^out 9000 feet). Collected Nov. 14, 1S95. 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 posteriorilv. 



0;/or.— Sooty plumbeous, darkest on the Ixick. 



f'roiial awl dentnl characters. — Skull and palate almost exactly as in B. 

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

 cusnidate teeth with inner cusp behind instead of in front fon postero- 

 internal instead of antero-internal angle). 



Kemarlcs. — For the opjiortunity to describe this very interesting shrew 

 I am indebted to Mr. Oldfield Thomas, Curator of iNIammals 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 soutli of 

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

 is of unusual interest. 



Mea.tnrenients (from dry skin). — Total length, 110; tail vertebrre, 28 ; 

 hind foot, 14.5; skull, 21 x 10. 



Notiosoiex gigas sp. nov. 



Ti/pe from Mts. at Milpillas, near San Sebastian, Jalisco, Mexico. No. 

 88012, 9 ad. U. S. Nat. Mas., Biological Survey Coll. Collected March 

 15, 1897, by E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman. Original No. 1070(). 



General characters. — Similar to Nofiosorex craivfordi, but very nnu-h 

 larger; tail relatively as well as actually longer. 



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



53— Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XI, 1897 (227) 



