1915.] 



SCALOPUS AQUATICUS HOWELLI. 



37 



central Alabama and southern Mississippi to Pensacola Bay and the 

 Mississippi River. 



General characters. — Intermediate in size between S. a. aqaaticus 

 and S. a. australis; usually paler than either aquaticus or australis; 

 skull flat, less angular than in aquaticus; rostrum long and narrow. 



Color. — FuU winter pelage: Back dark drab, hair-brown, or fus- 

 cous, becoming in most specimens bufly brown on head; nose and 

 wrists usually slightly suffused with ochraceous-tawiiy or ciima- 

 mon; underparts more grayish than back, usually much tinged 

 with Saccardo's umber or tawny-olive. Fresh summer pelage: 

 Back dark cinnamon-drab or drab, sometimes with a very slight 

 coppery sheen, becoming cinnamon-buff or ochraceous-tawny on 

 face; underparts hair-brown to neutral gray, grading into sepia on 

 chest. 



SlcuU. — Size medium (smaller than that of S. a, aquaticus, larger 

 than that of S, a. australis) flat; rostrum long and narrow; man- 

 dible weak; coronoid process and angle of mandible weak and very 

 narrow, incurved toward condyle, making superior and inferior 

 notches small and relatively deep; teeth small. 



Measurements, — Type (adult male): Total length, 152; tail verte- 

 brae, 20; hind foot, 18. SlcuU: Average of 5 skulls of adult males 

 from type locality: Greatest length, 32.3 (31.8-32.7); palatikr 

 length, 13 (12.7-13.3); mastoidal breadth, 16.7 (16.3-17.1); inter- 

 orbital breadth, 7.2 (7-7.4); maxillary tooth rov/, 10.1 (10-10.3); 

 mandibular molar-premolar row, 10.1 (9.9-10.2). 



Remarlcs. — Howell's mole differs from both S. a. aquaticus and 

 S. a. australis in cranial characters and is not strictly intermediate 

 between the two. It shows slight local variations which on account 

 of scarcity of material are not fully understood. Skulls from Bay 

 St. Louis and Washington, Miss., and from New Orleans and St. 

 Tammany Parish, La., have braincases higher and narrower than 

 typical specimens, and the rostra taper more gradually; none of 

 the skulls, however, is from a fuUy adult animal, and it is possible 

 that age might change this condition. Skulls from Biloxi, Cedar- 

 bluff, and Kemper County, Miss., are slightly heavier and more angu- 

 lar than those from the type region. In northern North Carolina 

 S. a. howelli begins to approach aquaticus in size. A series of speci- 

 mens from Young Harris, Ga., shows in color a tendency toward 

 aquaticus and has skulls which in angularity and height of braincase 

 are like those of aquaticus, but which in size and breadth of rostrum 

 are like those of howelli. A skin without skull from Pensacola, Fla., 

 is indeterminable, but is provisionally referred to howelli. 



Specimens examined. — Total number, 106, as follows: 



Alabama: Ardell, 1; Auburn, 1; Autauga ville (type locality), 15; Castleberry, 

 2; Cottondale, 1; Eutaw, ] ; Greensboro, 3; Huntsville, 1; Sand Mountain 

 (near Carpenter), 8. 



