1 82 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XIX r 



and slightly brownish and is confined in most specimens to 

 the lower border of the sides. The greater part of the series 

 is in summer pelage, in which the color of the dorsal area is 

 pale brown, the sides are like the back, and the gray of the 

 ventral surface is dull with a slight tinge of yellowish. 



Sorex buxtoni belongs to the 5. araneus group, but differs 

 from the true 5. araneus of Sweden and other parts of north- 

 ern Europe in its much paler colors at all seasons, and smaller 

 size. It more nearly resembles Sorex pribilofensis Merriam, 

 from the Pribilof Islands, from which it is almost indistin- 

 guishable in coloration in some of its phases. 



"Russian local name, Mysh, meaning mouse, as the people 

 do not distinguish between the mice, voles, and shrews. 



"Abundant in suitable localities all over the Gichiga and 

 Anadyr sections of Siberia, and probably the rest of North- 

 east Siberia. At Gichiga they prefer the higher places on the 

 tundra where it is moist, and where there is a growth of low 

 hawthorn bushes, or other places where there are shrubs or 

 an undergrowth, as along the banks of streams or of tundra 

 pools. They are active during the entire year and often 

 come into the houses during the winter. They gave me 

 much annoyance during the summer by devouring the mice 

 and voles that had been caught in my traps, and by springing 

 my larger baited traps and escaping unharmed. They were 

 easily caught in traps baited with fresh fish or meat. They 

 are most active during August and September." N. G. B. 



AMERICAN AFFINITIES OF CERTAIN EAST SIBERIAN MAMMALS. 



The mammal fauna of East Siberia, so far as genera are 

 concerned, consists of exclusively Holarctic types, repre- 

 sented, with one exception (Moschus), in both Arctic America 

 and Arctic Eurasia, but by more or less differentiated forms 

 on the two continental areas. Whether some of the more 

 slightly differentiated forms are to be regarded as species or 

 subspecies depends upon the point of view. The results of 

 modern research, however, when based on ample material, 

 demonstrate that what in earlier days were looked upon as 



