244 



NOKTH AMEKICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



Specimens from Edmonton, St. Albert, and Island Lake, Alberta, 

 taken b}^ J. Alden Loring in 1894 and 1895, were recorded by Mer- 

 riam ; « in 1896 the species was taken by the same collector at the 

 following places : Stony River, 25 miles northwest of Jasper House ; 

 Smoky Valley; Muskeg Creek, at points 15 and 20 miles from its 

 mouth ; Smoky River trail, north of Baptiste River ; and Rodent Val- 

 ley, west of Jasper House. Allen has recently recorded specimens 

 from Liard River [mouth of Black River] and Fort Norman.^ The 

 specimen of Sorex forstem^ recorded by King from the mouth of 

 Great Fish River,^ was in all probability referable to this species. 



Sorex obscurus Merriam. Rocky Mountain Shrew. 



During our first trip to the Great Slave Lake region in 1901 a 

 single adult male was taken by Alfred E. Preble on Mission Island, 

 near Fort Resolution, on July 21. The specimen calls for no special 

 comment except that its tail is longer than is usual in typical 

 ohscurus. 



On our next visit to the region we further extended the range of 

 the species. While collecting on the mountains at the mouth of 

 Nahanni River in July, 1903, my brother and Gary trapped one, and 

 on their return trip they collected a number on the Athabaska at 

 Swift Current and 30 miles above Athabaska Landing. During the 

 early part of the winter of 1903 I took 2 specimens at Fort Simp- 

 son. They were secured about the post buildings. Another w^as 

 taken at the same place on November 2, 1904, by J. W. Mills. 



The discovery of this species on Great Slave Lake and the upper 

 Mackenzie is somewhat of a surprise, since no shrew of the ohscurus 

 type has hitherto been recorded from the interior of British Amer- 

 ica north of the Jasper House region in western Alberta. 



Five adults from the Athabaska average in measurements, total 

 length 114, tail vertebrae 45, hind foot 13.3 ; the Fort Resolution speci- 

 men measured 124, 51, 13; two from Fort Simpson average 112.5, 

 47, 13.5 ; one from the mountains at the mouth of Nahanni River 

 measured 111, 45, 13. 



The side glands in this species are quite conspicuous, occupying a 

 space about 6.5 mm. in length, or half the length of the hind foot. 



Two specimens taken b}^ J. Alden Lormg at Henry House, Alberta, 

 in the autumn of 1895, have been recorded by Merriam.^ In the 

 season of 1896 Loring took the species at the following localities in 

 Alberta: Mountains 15 miles south of Henry House, July 8 and 9^ 

 Stony River, 35 miles northwest of Jasper House, August 26 ; Smoky 



^N. A. Fauna, No. 10, p. 62, 1895. 



^ Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XIX, p. 564, 1903. 



c Narrative Journey to Arctic Ocean, II, p. 17, 1836. 



^ N. A. Fauna, No. 10, p. 73, 1895. 



