February 12, 1923 Vol. VIII, pp. 37-38 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



NEW ENGLAND ZOOLOGICAL CLUB 



A NEW SHREW FROM COLOMBIA 



BY GLOVER MORRILL ALLEN 



Among some small mammals from the Bogota region, lately- 

 received by the Museum of Comparative Zoology from the 

 Institute de la Salle, are three shrews, two of which are Cryptotis 

 thomasi (Merriam), a large species represented in the highlands 

 of northwestern South America by some half dozen rather closely 

 related forms. The third specimen, however, is a much smaller 

 species apparently allied to Cryptotis nelsoni (Merriam) of Vera 

 Cruz, Mexico, and to C. nigrescens (J. A. Allen) of Costa Rica, 

 but very distinct from both. It is therefore doubly interesting, 

 not only as adding a new species to the known fauna of Colom- 

 bia, but also as extending into South America the geographic 

 range of a group of shrews hitherto known from Central America 

 only. It may be named 



Cryptotis avia sp. nov. 



Type. — Skin and skull no. 20,091, M. C. Z., adult, from El Verj6n, in 

 the Andes east of Bogota, Colombia, collected in October, 1922, by Brother 

 Niceforo Maria. 



Description. — Size small, about as in C. nigrescens; hind feet large as 

 compared with C. nelsoni and C. mexicana ; but the fore feet more like those 

 of the latter, instead of having the large claws of the former. Color above, 

 approaching a 'light seal brown' (Ridgway, 1912), minutely grizzled with 

 grayish; below similar but more silvery, faintly washed on throat and 

 chest with brownish ('Mars brown'). Tail all around seal brown. Backs 



