MAMMALS—SORICINAE—BLARINA TALPOIDES. 39 
yellowish white ; whiskers grayish ; tail uniformly dusky. This is also the case with speci- 
mens from Massachusetts, Carlisle, Racine, and most localities generally. One specimen 
from Racine has much the same ground color, but intermixed are many hairs of a silvery 
grayish, imparting quite a hoary appearance. This is also seen in one specimen from Ann 
Arbor, Michigan, and is probably the winter condition of the pelage. A specimen from West 
Northfield, Illinois, has the chin and tip of tail white; the teeth are all colored at the ends, 
dark reddish or purplish brown, the tips of the long incisors nearly black; the small premolar 
is alone entirely white. 
A specimen from Holmes’ Hole, Massachusetts, (903,) belonging to the Boston Natural His- 
tory Society, is of a very pale, brownish chestnut above, fading to the belly into a still paler tint 
ofthe same. The colors, however, are such as might be the result of a partial bleaching, espe- 
cially of a specimen preserved in alcohol impregnated with corrosive sublimate, and exposed to 
the light. I have seen precisely this tint produced in moles, under the circumstances here 
supposed. 
As it is a matter of much importance to define the characters of this species, the most abun- 
dant of the North American shrews, I have appended the following very full table of measure- 
ments to illustrate the variations in size and proportions to which it is subject. 
Measurements. (A.) 
Grosse Ile, Wis. Carlisle, Pa. | Montreal, (198.) 
3 Alcohol. | Alcohol. | Dried. 
| i — —s 
Inches. | Lines. | Inches. | Lines. | Inches. | Lines. 
DNOseItOOCcIpUbin= sane =e sees = een les ge aa eee Dy) |os eee slaeue basen ee 
INGRETEO CVE > eee tan Se ae Sm ee ee 6 |----+--- BP ris SNS Lee 
WMEn a? Goes to Eee seine seis || Pee OR eerie Bhraccesetic Pres tos 
Nose: root: of tail>>-.=--2.220--5-ca-: 3 4 3 2 4 4 
Nose to end of outstretched hind legs-_---- 4 3 pee 8 ee LS teed g 
Tail from root to end. Gf Verbenre. ote oa. ene a i UT gg te . i es 2 
Tail from root to end of hairs --..-.------ 1 1} 1 3 | 1 4} 
Rarsyovidth of aperture =* =~. 25=2=<-5-2s5-).=-=---- Se es See are Cee ecene? ania 
Arm, fore foot to end of claws----....----|---.---- WP loess ae by | See | 54 
Arm lonpestclaw==-2 2: = --c3eeo2= 322] > eee Oa ee Sa ed eee ee ee eee 
Leg, hind foot from heel to end of claws---|----- -- Gi eases (i o wrsaeeeee 7h 
Beewlonpest CawWasasco se tanaaso eon 2s leneeeues 7 ad HOS ee ee eeeese | eee see acess 
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