MAMMALS SORICINAE BLARINA TALPIODES. 37 



SECTION II, WITH 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 ^ +^ + ^5=30. Anterior upper incisor with the basal 

 lobe more conical and further forward than in the other section. The first 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. 



BLAKINA TALPOIDES. 



Sf. Cn. 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, cark ashy gray, with a wash of light sooty brown; sometimes clearer, with a slight hoarmess. Average length of 

 head and body,3j inches ; tail and head, one inch. Fore foot, 0.40 ; hind foot, 0.55 of an inch. Skull aboutO 85 of an inch long. 



Sorex talpcides, GAPPER, Zool. Jour. V, June 1830, 208, pi. viii. (Lake Simcoe, Canada.) 



Corsira (Blarina) talpoides, J. E. GRAY, Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. V, Nov. 1837, 134. 



Sorex Dekayi, BACH, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, 1837, 377 ; pi. xxiii, f. 4. 

 DEKAT, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 17 ; pi. v. f. 2. 



AUD. & BACH. N. A. Q. Ill, 1853, 246 ; pi. cl, f. 2. (Original description.) 

 ? Sorex brevicaudus, HARLAN, Faun. Amer. 1825, 29. (Skull only.) 

 ? THOMPSON, Hist. Vermont, 1842, 27. 



? DEKAT, N. Y. Zool. I. 1842, 19. 



? PLUMMER, Am. Jour. Sc. XLVI, 277. (Habits.) 



? Brachysorex brevicaudus, DUVKRNOY, Mag. de Zool. 1842 ; pi. lii. 

 ? Sorex coroZtnensts, DEKAY, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 21 ; pi. 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 skin 



