IMAMiMALS FROM MOUNT COFFEE, LIBERIA 



645 



MVOSOREX MURICAUDA sp. nov. 



Native name, De-wa. 



Type. — Adult male (in alcohol) no. 83809, U. S. National Museum. 

 Collected at Mount Coffee, Liberia, Africa, April 5, 1897. Original 

 no. 32. 



CJiaracters. — Slightly smaller and of more slender form than Sorex 

 arancus; tail longer than head and body; unicuspid teeth |f| ; color 

 slaty brown above, smoky gray beneath. 



Color. — After nearly three years' immersion in alcohol the type 

 specimen is uniform slate-gray above, faintly tinged with sepia across 

 shoulders and middle of back. Underparts whitish smoke-gray. The 

 fur is everywhere plumbeous at base. Feet dull white. 



Peet. — The feet are slender, scantily clothed with fine white hairs 

 on dorsal surface, the soles and palms naked, each with six tubercles. 

 Tail. — Tail slender and distinctly four-sided. Its diameter near 

 base is only 3 mm., a width that it maintains without perceptible 

 diminution to within about 20 mm. of tip. It is without trace of 

 scales or annulation, scantily clothed with almost microscopic hairs, 

 and very inconspicuously sprinkled with minute bristles 2 to 3 milli- 

 meters in length, visible on close scrutiny only. 



Skull. — The skull of Myosorex muricauda (fig. 43) is slender and 

 lightly built, much like that of Sorex 

 araneus though smaller and less robust. 

 Under surface of basioccipital forming 



a distinct angle with that of basisphe- 



noid, not continuous with it as in the 



Liberian species of Crocidtira. Tym- 

 panic rings nearly circular and actually 



larger than in Crocidura schzveitzeri 



or Sorex araneus. 



Teeth. — Anterior upj^er incisor with 



large posterior cusp, the point of which 



is level with tips of smaller unicuspid 



teeth. First unicuspid nearly double 



the height of second and third, its 



alveolar length slightly greater than 



height at middle. Second and third 



unicuspids when viewed from side sub- 

 equal and about one-half as large as 



first. Viewed from above (skull held upside down) the third appears 



much larger than the second, owing. to the postero-internal expansion 



Fig. 

 Cauda. 



42. Myosorex muri- 

 Type. X 2. 



