MARCH 31, 1902 Vor Iie Pes 7/5-75 
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 B/arina 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 
brevicauda 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 Llarina 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.t_ Dr. Merriam’s view that /a/poides is an inter- 
grade between drevicauda 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- 
1See Miller, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XXVI, pp. 185-187, 1894, and Merriam, 
North Amer. Fauna, no. 10, pp. 10-13, 1895. 
