246 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. [\o. 27. 



In the National Museum series of shrews I find a number of speci- 

 mens of this species from the region now under review and will refer 

 to them briefly- A skin taken at Portage La Loche by B. 11. Ross, 

 August 5, 1860, is chiefly interesting as from a locality now seklom 

 visited. Several alcoholic specimens furnish a record for Fort Reso- 

 lution, where we did not detect it. One was taken at Buffalo River, 

 Great Slave Lake, July 5 (probably 1800), by B. R. Ross, who also 

 collected one at Fort Simpson in December, 1860. Another was taken 

 at Big Island, Great Slave Lake, by John Reid. 



Allen has recorded three specimens taken at Fort Norman by A. J. 

 Stone, September 15 to IT, 1898. a 



Sorex sphagnicola, described by Coues from Fort Liard or vicin- 

 ity,'' and which lias been more or less doubtfully referred to by 

 authors in recent years as distinct from S. richardsoni, is beyond all 

 doubt identical with this species. I have recently made a careful 

 comparison between the type of S. sphagnicola and our large series 

 of richardsoni, some of which are from the same general region, as 

 shown above. The type of Sorex sphagnicola now consists merely of 

 fragments of a skin, the head and nape and the hinder third, includ- 

 ing the hind feet and tail. It was plainly taken in summer and 

 was molting, a condition which probably accounts for the alleged 

 peculiarities of the color pattern which have been supposed to charac- 

 terize this species. When compared with summer skins of S. rich- 

 ardsoni the agreement is very close. The color of the head and neck 

 is exactly matched in some specimens of richardsoni from Great 

 Slave Lake; the color of the hinder parts match almost equally well, 

 the type of sphagnicola being just appreciably darker than ordinary 

 summer specimens of richardsoni. The feet and tail agree precisely 

 in size, and, allowing a little for the fading of the type, in color. 

 Doctor Merriam has compared this specimen and agrees with me that 

 S. sphagnicola must be considered a synonym of -6'. richardsoni. 



Sorex tundrensis Merriam. Tundra Shrew. 



In the collection of shrews in the National Museum I find about 

 25 specimens of this species from several localities in the lower Mac- 

 kenzie region, thus materially extending its previously recorded 

 range. A number of specimens were brought to MacFarlane by the 

 Eskimo from the mouth of the Anderson and the Arctic coast in that 

 quarter in 1862, 1863, and the winter of 1865-66. There are several 

 also from Fort Anderson taken by MacFarlane, one from Peel River 

 (Fort McPherson) taken by C. P. Gaudet, and one or two from the 

 mouth of Porcupine River collected by Kennicott. In addition to 



"Bull Am. Mns. Nat. Hist., XIX, p. 566, 1903. 



6 Bull. TJ. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr.. Ill, No. ::, p. 650, 1877. 



