228 Merriam — Descriptions of Five New Shrews. 



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

 upper and lower surfaces of body. 



Vranlal and doibd ch<trurters. — Skull large and massive, widely different 

 from N. cruwfordi and evollx ; braincase highly arched, as in Blarina mex- 

 icana, which it greatly resembles (see figure of skull of B. mexicana, N. 

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

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

 color on ti]is ; 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 Imnks in damp places grown 

 up to bushes and weeds away fi-om the woods. 



Measarements (from dry skin*). — Total length, 128; tail vertebrfB, 45! 

 hind foot, 15. Cranial mea.viranents : total length of skull, including in- 

 cisors, 23; greatest breadth, 10.5. 



Sorex sclateri f sp. nov. 



Ti/pe from Tumbala, Chiapas, Mexico (alt., 5000 ft.). No. 75872, 9 ad. 

 U. S. Nat. I\Ius., 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 rnmp ; under parts seal l^rown ; tail dusky ; paler below, without 

 line of demarkation ; feet dnsky. 



Cranial and denial character.^. — Skull large, long, and rather slender 

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

 saussurei candatas, but postpalatal region and braincase decidedly longer ; 

 interpterygoid fossa broad and long ; first and second unicuspids subequal 

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

 cidedly larger than fourth ; as seen from l)elow, subequal or slightly 

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



Remarkff.— Sorex .sclateri is a very pec'uliar species, and does not seem to 

 l)e at all closely related to any of the other shrews known from Mexico or 

 Central America. The large size of tlie hind foot and i)ecnliar elongation 

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

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

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

 and relative proportions of unicuspids <SV>r('r.sT/'(^'/'< 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 vertebrfe, 53; hind foot, 16. 



* Field measurements not yet received from collector, 

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

 tary of the Zoological Society of London. 



