248 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



Tno. 27. 



Another specimen (No. 6275) from Fort Resolution, is catalogued, 

 but I can not find it in the collection, unless a specimen labeled doubt- 

 fully 'Arctic America,' without other data, is the same one — 

 reentered in the catalogue because of mistake. At any rate, the 

 specimen is in nowise peculiar. It measures: Total length 150, tail 

 vertebrae 67, hind foot 19. 



A specimen taken by J. Alden Loring at Edmonton, Alberta, Sep- 

 tember 15, 1894, has been recorded by Merriam.*^ It was taken in tall 

 grass, and measured 157, 68, 20. 



Neosorex palustris navigator Baird. Rocky Mountain Marsh Shrew. 



A specimen taken by Loring near Henry House, September 6, 1895, 

 has been recorded by Merriam.^ During the following season, Lor- 

 ing took one in Smoky Valley, 50 miles north of Jasper House, on 

 August 27. It is a Rocky Mountain form of lY. palustris, and the 

 specimens mentioned furnish all the information we have regarding 

 its range within the region now under review. 



Microsorex eximius (Osgood). Alaska Microsorex. 



In the course of our collecting, a series of over a dozen shrews of 

 this genus, hitherto unrecorded from this region, was obtained. It 

 comprises specimens from Fort Chipewyan, Smith Landing, Fort 

 Smith, Fort Resolution, Fort Rae, Fort Simpson, and Fort Franklin. 

 They were usually taken in traps set in damp places, mainly in the 

 runways of Microtus, and in situations similar to those inhabited b}^ 

 /Sorex personatus, the two species being frequently captured in the 

 same trap on successive days. On one or two occasions we took 

 Microsorex in storehouses. Usually we trapped at least 10 S. per- 

 sonatus to one M icrosorex, but at Fort Smith we found the latter oc- 

 cupying certain tracts almost to the exclusion of the common species, 

 judging by the results of our trapping. The series thus brought to- 

 gether fortunately shows both summer and winter pelages. The 

 summer pelage is sepia brown above, slighth^ paler beneath. The 

 color, together with the short tail and small hind foot, usually suf- 

 fices to distinguish the animals from S. personatus, without refer- 

 ence to the skull. Compared with the two known specimens of 

 Microsorex eximius (which differ somewhat from each other), the 

 summer specimens of the present series average slightly darker above, 

 but the difference is not important. In winter the upper parts are 

 grayer than in summer and the lower parts are much lighter, being 

 nearly pure white. The rostrum and tooth row average slightly 

 broader in our specimens than in typical eximius from Alaska, but 

 the difference is scarcely appreciable. 



« X. A. Fauna, No. 10, p. 92, 1895. 



z> Ibid, p. 93, 1895. 



