1908.] 



MAMMALS. 



247 



these, which are definitely labeled, there are a number of specimens 

 labeled, in some cases doubtfully, 'Arctic America.' These Avere prob- 

 ably taken by MacFarlane in the Anderson River region. They bear 

 original numbers, but Mr. MacFarlane, in answer to a letter, though 

 of the opinion that the specimens were collected by him, is not able 

 to supply exact data, owing to the loss of some of his notebooks, but 

 thinks from the numbers that they were collected by the Eskimo of 

 the lower Anderson in 1862 and 1863, in which case they are from a 

 locality already represented by authentically labeled material. 



The specimens from northern Mackenzie do not differ in marked 

 degree from a large series in the Biological Survey collection from 

 St. ^richaels, the type locality, and other points in Alaska. Though 

 this species has the same tooth characters and color pattern as S. 

 richcirdsoni^ and it has been thought that there might be intergrada- 

 tion betw^een them, the series now brought together affords no evi- 

 dence that such is the case. Typical S. richardsoni occurs at Fort 

 Xorman, and S. tundrensis at Fort Anderson, and it is hardly proba- 

 ble that these widely different forms intergrade in the comparatively 

 narrow intervening area over which practically uniform climatic and 

 physiographic conditions 2:)revail. 



Neosorex palustris (Richardson). Marsh Shrew. 



This .species apparently is of rather rare occurrence in the region 

 now under review, but occurs north at least to the region of Great 

 Slave Lake. 



During my trip northward from Fort Rae in 1903 I took a female 

 at the edge of a muskeg on the upper part of Grandin River on 

 xA.ugust 5. It is grayish beneath, resembling in this respect some 

 summer specimens from southern Keewatin.'^ It presents no dis- 

 tinctive characters except its rather small size, which is probably due 

 to immaturity, though owing to the loss of the skull this can not be 

 determined with certainty. It measures: Total length 137, tail verte- 

 briX3 01, hind foot 18. On September 23 of the same year, while on 

 their homeward trip, Alfred E. Preble and Merritt Gary collected a 

 skull of this species on the trail 35 miles south of Athabaska Land- 

 ing. Tlie specimen w as picked up in the road. 



In the collection of the National Museum I find an alcoholic Neo- 

 sorex (Xo. 6276), taken at Fort Rae by L. Clarke. The skull, Avhich 

 I have removed and cleaned, agrees well with a series of specimens 

 from Alberta and Keew^atin. The specimen measured: Total length 

 125, tail vertebra? 64, hind foot 19. On account of the hardened con- 

 dition of the specimen, the total length, by present measurement, is 

 manifestly too small; the other measurements are approximately 

 correct. 



<^N. A. Fauna, Xo. 22, p. 71, 1902. 



