FAMILY SORECID^. 19 



Description. Fur very long. Head large ; eyes very minute. Fore feet naked, the hind 

 ones sparsely covered with hair. Nose emarginate. Auditory foramen large, with two dis- 

 tinct half divisions, sparsely hairy. Nails nearly as long as the toes. Tail sparsely covered 

 with hair. Teeth: Incisors, f ; cheek teeth, jf = 32. 



Color. Above, blackish lead when looked at from before, and silvery lead when viewed in 

 an opposite direction : paler beneath. Teeth black ; nose livid brown ; feel white. 



Length of head and body, 3'2-3*5. 



Tail, 0-9-1-0. 



I have seen several specimens of this animal from the opposite shore of New-Jersey, and 

 have heard of its capture near Albany, but have never had the fortune to meet with it in this 

 State. Mr. Linsley, in the work cited above, stales that he has taken it in Connecticut, 

 answering exactly to the description given by Godman. 



Since the above was written, I have had an opportunity of examining a recent specimen 

 from Queens county, which I refer to this species with the following description : 



Rostrum robust, broad. Whiskers numerous, long, radiating ; those along the margin of 

 the mouth 0*5 long. A projecting fleshy septum just anterior to the two upper incisors, and 

 extending nearly between them. Fur thick, moderately long, dark brown, very sparse around 

 the region of the mouth and on the extremities, rather allowing the skin beneath to be seen ; 

 rather more dense on the tail. Nose dark brown, bifid. Eyes with a small naked space 

 around them, 0"55 distant from the nose. Auditory hole large, transverse, narrowed beneath, 

 naked, with an oblique septum across the upper half, and a small lobe near the middle, about 

 0" 5 posterior to the eye. Fore feet • 5 long ; three toes subequal, longest ; outer toe slightly 

 longer than the inner. Tubercles on the palms six ; two in a line behind tlie inner toe, and 

 two behind the outer ; the fifth between the base of the second and third toes, counting from 

 the outside, and the sixth is placed at the base of the fourth toe. On the hind feet, the 

 tubercles are similar in number and situation, but are larger and more distinct. When the 

 animal lies on its back, with the hind legs extended, the claws reach beyond the middle of the 

 tail. Tail cyhndrical, very slightly tapering. 



Total length, 4-00. 



Of the tail, 0-75. 



Hind feet, 0-75. 



THE SMALL SHREW. 



SOREX PARVUS. 



Sorex parvus. Sav, Long's Exped. Vol. 1, p. 163. Linsley, Am. Jour. \o\. DO, p. 3S8. 

 Small Shrew. Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. Vol. 1, p. 78, pi. fig. 2. 



Characteristics. Color brownish ash above, ash beneath. Tail one-third the length of head 

 and body. Total length 3 • - 3 • 5. 



