ART. XXV -PRECURSORY NOTES ON AMERICAN INSECTIVOROUS 

 MAMMALS, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



By Elliott Coues, 



Captain and Assistant Surgeon U. S. A., Secretary and Naturalist of the Survey. 



Although the material before me for a monographic revision of the 

 American Tnsectivora is much greater than has been at the command of 

 any previous investigator, I am not yet prepared to announce the final 

 results of my study, there being several points still awaiting determina- 

 tion. Meanwhile, however, I think it advisable to publish without 

 delay descriptions of such species as appear to be unquestionably new 

 and valid, together with a number of other jDoints which I consider 

 established. These relate largely to the recognition of the excellent 

 subgeneric distinctions which subsist among the Soricidce. These 

 notes may be considered preliminary to a monograph of the American 

 Insectivora, now in preparation, the publication of which, however, may 

 be long delayed. 



Yery little has been done with these Mammals since 1857, when Pro- 

 fessor Baird* so greatly increased our knowledge of the subject. Though 

 the species admitted by him at that date, upon consideration of the 

 very limited material then at his command, require to be largely re- 

 duced, all the generic and subgeneric distinctions indicated by him are 

 confirmed. Tlie species additional to those given by him rest without 

 exception upon specimens not at that time available. In 1861, the 

 same naturalist reviewed the subject, making many new and important 

 determinations, which, however, have never been published. Most of 

 the new subgenera and species to be described in this paper are derived 

 from his MSS., which he very generously placed at my disposal, when 

 all the material contained in the National Museum, Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, was given into my hands for elaboration. 



The principal contributions to the knowledge of the subject since 1857 

 have been niade by J. A. Allen and T. Gill.' The former reviewed the 

 genus Blarina^f coming to the conclusion, not supported by larger ex- 

 perience, that all the species of this genus were reducible to one, con- 

 sidering that Baird's section of Blarina with 30 teeth was based upon 



* Mamiuals of North America, 1857, pp. 4-77. 



t Catalo<?iie of the Mammals of Massachusetts: with a Critical Revision of the Spe- 

 cies. < BivU. Mas. Comp. Zool., Cambridge, i, No. d, pp. 143-252. 1863. {Blarina, 

 treated at pp. 213-221.) 



