140 SIXTH RBi'o ur — 1836. 



of 24 degrees of latitude from the Arkansas to Great Slave 

 Lake, is probably the most generally diflfused of the American 

 bats. 



OnL CARNIVORA, cont. Fam. Insectivoua. 



Sorex brevicaudus, Say, Long's exp. Condylura cristata, Godm. j»/. 



parvus, Id. „ longicaiidata, Rich. F.B.A. 



personatus, Geoffr. >/«*. 15, 122. „ macroura, Harjl. Rich. /".fi.y^. 



Forsteri, Rich. F.B.A. 24. 



palustris, Id. /5. „ /;ra«'wa/a, Harris, Less. »zan. 



talfoides, Gapper, Zool. J. 5. Scalops canadensis, Godm. pi. 



In no other family of carnivora do the North American 

 members differ so much from the European ones as this, the 

 range both of generic forms and of species being more than 

 usually restricted within certain geographical limits. None of 

 the family are know^ii to inhabit South America ; the European 

 genera erinaceus, taljia, and mi/gale have not been detected in 

 North America, while condylura, scalops, and all the shrews in 

 the above list are peculiar to the latter country. Cladohates, 

 centenes, and chrysochloris belong to the East Indies, Mada- 

 gascar, and the Cape of Good Hope, the supposed American 

 species of the last-mentioned genus {chrysochloris rubra vel 

 rufa) having no other authority for its origin than that of Seba, 

 upon which very little dependence can be placed. 



The shrews above enumerated closely resemble their Euro- 

 pean congeners, with whom they have not been sufficiently 

 compared ; palustris in particular is with difficulty distinguish- 

 able from fodieyis or Dauhentonii. Little has been done to- 

 wards determining the range of the North American species. 

 Those which inhabit the Atlantic states were formerly con- 

 sidered as identical with European species; but after Mr, Say, in 

 his expedition up the Missouri, had detected and described as 

 new brevicaudus and parvus., these names were applied to the 

 coast shrews, though it is by no means certain that they are 

 more appropriate than the older appellations. ^S". brevicaudus 

 is said by Mr. Taylor* to be an inhabitant of the Alleghany 

 range, at the height of 2000 feet above the sea, where during 

 the winter it makes long galleries in the deep snow. S. palus- 

 tris and Forsteri have a high northern range, extending within 

 the arctic circle to the limit of the woods. The latter differs 

 from the description of "S". personatus principally in wanting a 

 black mark on the end of the nose and in the colour of the 

 under fur, so that without a comparison of specimens they can- 

 not be positively pronounced to be distinct. aS". taljjoides, the 



* Mag. Nat. Hist. 



