March 31, 1902 Vol. Ill, pp. 75-78 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



NEW ENGLAND ZOOLOGICAL CLUB 



DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW, INSULAR BLARINAS 

 FROM EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS. 



BY OUTRAM BANGS. 



For some years past I have been accumulating specimens of 

 the large Blarina of eastern North America and studying its dis- 

 tribution and variations, and I now have a series almost com- 

 pletely covering its range. This animal is of course the Blarina 

 brevicanda talpoides (Gapper) , the type locality of which is the 

 vicinity of Lake Simcoe, Ontario. As to whether this form should 

 be recognized as distinct from true Blarina brevicauda (Say) of 

 the West (type locality, near Blair, Nebraska), there will always 

 be, I think, a difference of opinion. To me the two seem quite 

 different enough to stand as subspecies, though Dr. Merriam 

 thought otherwise. 1 Dr. Merriam's view that talpoides is an inter- 

 grade between brevicauda and carolinensis is hardly in accordance 

 with its geographic distribution, as it occupies the whole of con- 

 tinental eastern North America from at least as far north as Lake 

 Edward, Quebec, south to Maryland and the District of Columbia, 

 at its southern limit passing abruptly into B. brevicauda carolinen- 

 sis. I can detect but little difference in specimens from various 

 widely separated stations throughout this large area ; thus I have 

 been unable to distinguish between examples from Lake Edward, 

 Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, Massa- 



1 See Miller, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XXVI, pp. 185-187, 1894, and Merriam, 

 North Amer. Fauna, no. 10, pp. 10-13, '895 • 



