MAMMALS—SORICINAE—BLARINA TALPIODES. 37 
Section II, witTH FOUR UPPER PREMOLARS. 
Lower parts of the body and tail usually lighter than the upper, with the line of demarcation 
distinctly visible. Feet smaller than in Section A ; the anterior contained about one a half times 
in the posterior. Dental formula e+ — 30. Anterior upper incisor with the basal 
lobe more conical and further forward than in the other section. The-figst premolar tooth 
slightly larger than the second. The third deciedly smaller than either, though larger than in 
the other group. The small cusp on the inner side of the base of the first three lateral teeth, 
either wanting or very small. Lower anterior incisor with two or three lobed serrations, stout, 
much curved, not reaching posteriorly as far as the middle of the first molar; the two first 
lateral teeth entirely above it. 
A—WITH FIVE PREMOLARS, TEETH 32. 
BLARINA TALPOIDES, 
Sp. Cu.—Very large. Fur rather short, coarse, about 2: lines long. Feet shorter than in B. brevicaudus ; tail about the 
length of the head. 
Color above, dark ashy gray, with a wash of light sooty brown; sometimes clearer, with a slight hoariness. Average length of 
head and body,33 inches ; tail and head, oneinch. Fore foot, 0.40 ; hind foot, 0.55 of an inch. Skull about 0 85 of aninch long. 
Sorex talpoides, Gaprer, Zool. Jour. V, June 1830, 208, pl. viii. (Lake Simcoe, Canada.) 
Corsira (Blarina) talpoides, J. E. Gray, Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. V, Nov. 1837, 124. 
Sorex Dekayi, Bacu, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, 1837, 377; pl. xxiii, f. 4. 
Dexay, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 17; pl. v. f. 2. 
Aun. & Bacu. N. A. Q. III, 1853, 246; pl. cl, f 2. (Original description.) 
? Sorex brevicaudus, Hartan, Faun. Amer. 1825, 29. (Skull only.) 
? Tuompson, Hist. Vermont, 1842, 27. 
? Dexay, N. Y. Zool. I. 1842, 19. 
? Pruner, Am. Jour. Sc. XLVI, 277. (Habits.) 
? Brachysorex brevicaudus, Duvernoy, Mag. de Zool. 1842; pl. lii. 
? Sorex carolinensis, Dexay, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 21; pl. xxi, f. 2. 
Description of a Specimen in Alcohol, (No. 2087,) from Massachusetts—The form of this 
animal is thick and mouse-like ; very different from the proportions of the European shrews, or 
the long-tailed American species. The head is short, broad, and much depressed, the lateral 
profile narrower than the superior. The width of the head, seen from above, is from 0.57 to 
0.60 its length, and tapers in nearly a straight line to the truncated muzzle. This is broad, 
naked, and deeply furrowed in the middle vertical plane ; the nostrils open on the sides and oc- 
cupy most of the lateral surface. The under side of the muzzle is deeply furrowed from the 
upper incisor to the median furrow of the nose. The upper incisors are placed about midway 
between the posterior angle of the mouth and the tip of the nose, thus illustrating the unusual 
brevity of the snout. 
The eyes are excessively minute, and require a close scrutiny to detect their presence; the 
opening in the skin through which they are seen, not larger than a small pin-hole. They are 
nearer the anterior base of the ear than the muzzle, and only a very little anterior to a point 
midway between the tip of the muzzle and the occiput. 
The opening of the ear is quite large, but the whole external ear is directed entirely forwards, 
closing the meatus like a valve, and forming no projection whatever, so that in the dried skifi 
