2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 60 



Kastschenko's original description of Mus tscherga 1 relates wholly to 

 the smaller species, a form of Apodemus sylvaticus; but in his second 

 account of the animal 2 the two species are evidently confused, and 

 the larger species passes as the adult of the smaller. This is plain 

 from a number of statements, among them the measurements given 

 for the hind feet. In the original description of tscherga the 

 measurement of hind foot given is 20 millimeters. The young of 

 the larger species, even those smaller than adults of the lesser, have 

 the hind foot 23 or more, and in adults it ranges from 23 to 25. 

 Aside from the greater external measurements, Apodemus nigritalus 

 is readily distinguishable from A. tscherga by the more brownish 

 color, the conspicuous black anklet, the larger skull with pronounced 

 supraorbital beads, and the presence of eight mammae instead of six. 

 It appears to be nearly related only to Apodemus peninsulas, from 

 which species it is readily separable by its larger size and by the 

 relative length of head and body and tail vertebras. In peninsula 

 the tail is about equal to, or slightly longer, than head and body. In 

 nigritalus it is always considerably less. The ten specimens of A. 

 nigritalus, all collected in August, have no traces of spines in the 

 pelage, which is full and soft. 



SOREX ROBORATUS, new species 



Type from Tapucha, Altai Mountains, Siberia. United States 

 National Museum No. 175436, skin and skull of J 1 adult (teeth un- 

 worn) . Collected August 7, 1912, by N. Hollister ; original No. 4451. 



General characters. — A member of the araneus group, larger than 

 Sorex araneus borealis, with much larger hind foot and relatively 

 smaller teeth (molars actually smaller than in S\ a. tctragonurus) ; 

 first two upper unicuspids longer on crown than high at cone, the first 

 nearly one and one-half times as long as high ; line of posterior border 

 sharply squared, with long shelving heel equal to posterior height 

 of cusp ; and highest point of cusp over anterior third of crown ; 

 upper cheek teeth with hypocones very much reduced and without 

 pigment. 



Color of type. — Back very dark hair brown ; sides lighter, more 

 drab ; underparts anteriorly buffy-gray, posteriorly pale smoke gray. 

 The tricolor pattern is evident but not conspicuous, and the color 

 areas are not sharply marked. Feet drab brown ; tail sharply bicolor, 

 above dark brown, below ecru drab. 



1 Results Altai Zoological Expedition 1898, p. 46, Tomsk, 189 



2 Ann. Mus. Zool. Acad. St.-Petersbourg, vol. 7, p. 301, 1902. 



