1877.] MR. E. R. ALSTON ON A NEW SHREW. 445 



Plate XLVIII. 

 B. moniliger S, No. 4, p. 442, from a skin from Ceylon. Mus. nosir. 



Plate XLIX. 



B. moniliger $,No. 1, 440, from a skin collected at Rattabown, Oeylon. 

 Mus, nostr. 



3. On an und escribed Shrew from Central America 

 By Edward R. Alston, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



[ReceiTCd April 26, 1877.] 



Among the Central- American Mammals in the British Museum 

 are two shrews from Guatemala which were named but not described 

 by the late Dr. Gray as Corsira temlyas^, and are labelled and cata- 

 logued in the Museum as C. teculyas. A comparison with the other 

 American Soricida convinces me that they represent an undescribed 

 species ; and Dr. Elliott Coues, who is at present at work on the Ameri- 

 can Insectivora, and to whom I have sent a short description of them, 

 is of the same opinion. Dr. Giinther, with his usual courtesy, has had 

 the skull extracted from one of the specimens ; so that I am able to 

 describe the dentition of the species, which proves to belong to the 

 restricted genus (or subgenus) Sorex, characterized by the possession 

 of thirty-two teeth in all. In describing these I have accepted the 

 views of Dr. E. Brandt as to the homologies of the teeth in this 

 family^. 



As neither of Gray's names has any claim to adoption, and as 

 both are barbarous, I propose to call this Shrew 



Sorex ver^-pacis, sp. n. 



Corsira temlyas, J. E. Gray, P. Z. S. 1843, p. 79 (sine descr.). 



C. teculyas ejusd. MS. 



Ears moderate, thickly clothed with rather long fur. Tail rather 

 long, clad with short closely pressed hairs which conceal the scales. 



Colour nearly uniform dark dusky brown, hardly lighter beneath, 

 feet and tail dusky. Fur short and close, dark slate-colour at the 

 base, tipped with dark brown. 



Approximate measurements from the mounted type specimens : — 



Teeth white, tipped with brown. First upper incisor stout, falcate, 

 with a well-marked internal cusp ; second to fourth simple, gradually 

 diminishing in size, canine slightly smaller than fourth incisor. Pre- 

 molar very small, hardly higher than the cingulum of the first molar. 



1 P. Z. S. 1843, p. 79. 



* " Izslyedovaniya o zubnoi sistemye kutor i zemleroek," St. Petersburg, 1865 

 (of. Zool. Rec. 1866, pp. 24-27) ; " Untersuchungen iiber das Gebiss der Spitz- 

 mause," Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, vol. xli. (2de p.) pp. 76-95, pip. i.-vi., 

 vol. xlvi. (2de pt.) pp. 1-79. 



