76 BANGS TWO INSULAR BLARINAS [ P y^j E ffi C ' 



chusetts, and Connecticut, either by the skulls or by the skins, 

 without referring to the labels or to the ' make ' of the skins. 



On the coast of Massachusetts B. brevicauda talpoides has 

 developed at least two well-characterized insular forms — perhaps 

 more will be found when other islands have been explored. 



1 st. On Martha's Vineyard Island there is a small form with 

 dark brownish back and very pale — almost whitish — under 

 parts ; and with a short skull, the rostral portion of which is 

 much broader and stronger, and the nasal aperture larger, than 

 in B. brevicauda talpoides. 



2d. On Nantucket Island is a form closely related to the last 

 in size, proportions and skull, but very different in color, being 

 darker below and more plumbeous above, — in these respects 

 more nearly like the continental Blarina brevicauda talpoides. 



When trapping these two island forms I noticed a striking 

 peculiarity, possessed by both, in which they differ from B. 

 brevicauda talpoides. This is, that they have to a very much less 

 degree the strong smell so characteristic of the common short- 

 tailed shrew. I believe that dissection would show their scent 

 glands to be much less well developed. 



These two insular forms, which, perhaps, it is best to regard as 

 subspecies, may be formally characterized as follows : 



Blarina brevicauda aloga l subsp. nov. 

 Martha's Vineyard Blarina. 



Type, from West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, old adult $ , 

 no. 9727, Bangs coll., coll. Museum of Comparative Zoology, collected June 25 

 1899, by Outram Bangs. 



Characters. — Smaller than B. brevicauda talpoides; colors browner above 

 and grayer below — a decided line of demarcation along sides, between the 

 two colors; skull very different — much shorter but quite as wide; rostral 

 portion particularly short, very massive and much wider; the nasal aperture 

 larger; teeth much the same, but tooth row shorter. 



Color. — Upper parts dark brownish drab, through which the gray of the 



1 Alogus — irregular, that does not correspond. 



