COUES ON INSECTIVOROUS MAMMALS, 649 



Upper profile of skull nearly ia one line from end of nasals to occiput. 

 Size from medium to largest. Fore feet at maximum of size, with larg- 

 est claws. Coloration nearly uniform. 



Type. — Sorex brevicauda Say or S. talpoides Gapper. 



b. Subgenus Soriciscus, Coues, subg. n. 



Chars, subg. — Teeth 30 (if) ; upper unicuspids 4 ; first two largest 

 and subequal to each other ; third abruptly smaller; fourth smaller still, 

 very minute and usually crowded out of view externally. Upper incisor 

 developing a decided posterior hook, nearly or quite as large as the suc- 

 ceeding tooth, and much as in Sorex itself. Lower incisor reaching 

 back only below the second succeeding tooth, so that only one tooth and 

 part of a second are [)laced above it. Skull in general more like Sorex 

 than like Blarina proper ; sagittal and lambdoidal crest obsolete, the 

 occiput rounding insensibly into the parietal walls. Interorbital con- 

 striction and attenuation of rostrum much as in Sorex. Upper profile of 

 skull straight in front, rounding up behind, nearly as in Sorex. Size 

 small to very small. Fore feet relatively smaller than in Blarina proper, 

 with less developed claws. Coloration indifferently bicolor or concolor, 

 oftener the former. 



Type. — Sorex parvus Say or S.cinereus Bachm. 



Here belong the greater number of the species, among them the very 

 smallest Shrews of America. In bulk of body, some species are about 

 the same as Microsorex hoyi, but the shortness of the tail makes the 

 total length much less. Thus, apparently full-grown specimens be- 

 fore me are under two and a half inches long, tail and all, while M. hoyi 

 measures at least three inches, tail included. In general configuration, 

 the skull is more like that of an ordinary Shrew than it is like that of 

 the other section of the same genus. 



I conclude this portion of the subject with an analysis of the genera 

 and subgenera according to a few salient features: — 

 A. — Ears ordinary. Feet fimbriate. Tail about equaling or exceeding 

 the head and body in length. 



Teeth 32 Neosorex. 



B. — Ears ordinary. Feet ordinary. Tail shorter than head and body. 



Teeth 32 Sorex. 



Teeth 30 Microsorex. 



Teeth 28 Nofiosorex. 



C. — Ears peculiar. Feet not fimbriate. Tail about as long as the head. 



Teeth 32 Blarina. 



Teeth 30 Soriciscus. 



