214: On new Sjmm'sh Insectivores. 



Bemnrhii. I think it best to treat this form as a subspecies 

 until the true reUitionsIiip of tlie ditferent shrews of the 

 russula group is made out. It is noteworthy that almost ail 

 the soutliern forms of tliis group [cypria, motiacha^ caudata, 

 pulchra) have a remarkably long tail. 



sp. n. 



Characters. Smaller than typical iV. /oJ<e?t5 ; tail rounded, 

 its lower surface without a keel of hairs. 



Colour. Upperparts glossy brownish black, the hairs 

 being dark iron-grey with reddish-black ends. Underparts 

 white, slightly washed with yellowish under the neck ; the 

 white sharply separated from the dark colour on the sides. 

 Hands and feet white, the latter with a blackish patch running 

 fiom the heel along the posterior half of the external border. 

 The long hairs fringing the foot white. Tail bicolor, brown- 

 ish black above, white below ; the hair on its lower surface 

 long enough to mask the scales, but not to form a fringe as 

 in N. fodiens ; it is only a little elongated about the end, 

 hardly forming an inconspicuous terminal tuft. 



After a long immersion in alcoliol the colour of the dorsal 

 surface of the body becomes a dark reddish chestnut. 



Skull. Compared with iV. /oc^iens, the brain-case is higher 

 and less rounded, its anterior part being not convex, but 

 forming a smooth slope. The occiput is also flatter in its 

 upper part. The teeth show no peculiarities. 



Measurements (type, after a short immersion in alcohol). 

 Head and body 73 mm.; tail 60; hind foot (s. u.) 17'5 ; 

 ear 8. 



Skull : greatest length, exclusive of incisors, 20"5; breadth 

 of brain-case 10; greatest antorbital breadth 6'2 ; interorbital 

 breadth 4 ; upper tooth-row 9"6. 



Habitat. Central Spain. 1 have seen specimens from 

 Salamanca and Madrid provinces. 



Type. Adult male, from San Martin de la Vega (province 

 of Madrid, on the Jarama River), collected in December 1892. 

 Ko. 1140, Museum of Natural Science of Madrid. 



Remarks. This Neomys is not alone in the lack of a hairy 

 keel under the tail. The same peculiarity has been found by 

 Mr. Charles Motiaz in another new form from the Vaud 

 Alps, Switzerland. Mr. Mottaz has kindl}^ sent me a speci- 

 men (skin and skull) and an unpublished description of his 

 animal, and from comparison it results that both the Swiss 

 and the Spanish forms, although similar in the tail-structure, 

 are very different in other points. In the same season the 



