54 BULLKTIN OF THE XATUKAL IIISTOKY .SOrip:TY. 



identity of S. cooperi Baclinian, and S. personatus ; and 

 hence the former name becomes a synonym of the latter. 



The writer has lately collected Kichardson's Shrew, 

 >S'. richardsoni Baclmian, a robust boreal form fairly com- 

 mon in the northwest and northern part of the Central 

 Plain, its known range, with the exception of northern 

 Minnesota, being- entirely Canadian. Its occurrence on 

 the Atlantic seaboard, nearly two thousand miles away, 

 is the most striking example of discontinuity in the 

 distribution of any known mammal, far exceeding that 

 of the Varying Hare of Europe. When the Canadian 

 fauna comes to be more thoroughly investigated, this 

 species will probably be found more or less distributed 

 over the immense stretch of continent now forming such 

 a strange break in its distribution. It is quite common 

 on the intervals and low wooded lands adjacent to the St. 

 John in Maugerville, Sunbury County. 



I am ]iot aware that S. fameas Miller has ever been 

 recorded from the province, its nearest locality being New 

 Hampshire. In February, 1895, the writer took a single 

 specimen in coniferous woods in the parish of Maugerville. 

 It is of a uniform dark slate color with a tail longer than 

 is usual in members of the genus. It is a sub-boreal form 

 frequenting southward the upper portions of mountains; 

 and does not seem to have had an}- previous Canadian 

 record. It is verv rare. 



