88 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[No. 38. 



similar to back, sometimes indistinctly bicolored. Worn fdage: 

 Paler and more brownish than fresh pelage; upperparts fuscous to 

 fuscous-black; underparts fuscous to hair-brown; wrists frequently 

 with a narrow ring varying from pinkish buff to clay color. Nasal 

 disk and processes in live animals rose color. Young usually paler 

 and more brownish than adults. 



STcull. — Size medium Gength about 34 mm.), elongate, narrow 

 (breadth across mastoids about 13 mm.), not depressed postorbit- 

 ally; braincase moderately high and arched; interparietal wide antero- 

 posteriorly; audital bullae incomplete; premaxillse much extended 

 beyond nasals anteriorly; adults with distinct crest between posterior 

 halves of nasals; zygomata short, narrow, straight, directed obliquely 

 downward anteriorly; palate narrow; dentition weak; first upper 

 incisor broad, incurved, projecting anteriorly; second upper incisor 

 minute; third upper incisor long, narrow, caninelike, in young with 

 a small postero-lateral basal tubercle; upper molars with indistinctly 

 trilobed inner basal ledge. 



Measurements. — Average of 10 adult males from Digby, Nova 

 Scotia: Total length, 202.2 (189-211); tail vertebras (summer), 78.4 

 (71-83.5); hind foot, 28.1 (26-30). Average of 2 adult males from 

 Washington, D. C: Total length, 184 (183-185); tail vertebrae (win- 

 ter), 65.5 (65-66); hind foot, 28 (28-28). BluU: Adult (male ?) 

 from Holmesburg, Pa.: Greatest length, 34.1; palatilar length, 12.9; 

 mastoidal breadth, 13.1; interorbital breadth, 7; maxillary tooth 

 row, 11; mandibular molar-premolar row, 11.3. Average of 3 skulls 

 of adult males from Locust Grove, N. Y.: Greatest length, 34.6 

 (34.1-35.2); palatilar length, 13.2 (13-13.3) ; mastoidal breadth, 13.6 

 (13.5-13.7); interorbital breadth, 7.2 (7.1-7.2); maxillary tooth row, 

 11.5 (11.4-11.5); mandibular molar-premolar row, 11.6 (11.5-11.7). 

 Skull of adult female from Locust Grove, N. Y.: Greatest length, 

 35 ; palatilar length, 13.3 ; mastoidal breadth, 13.4 ; interorbital breadth, 

 7.3; maxillary tooth row, 11.5; mandibular molar-premolar row, 11.9. 

 Average of 10 skuUs of adult males from Digby, Nova Scotia: 

 Greatest length, 33.9 (33.1-35); palatilar length, 13 (12.9-13.6); mas- 

 toidal breadth, 13.4 (13-14); interorbital breadth, 7.2 (7-7.4); 

 maxillary tooth row, 11.1 (10.6-11.5); mandibular molar-premolar 

 row, 11.3 (11-11.9). Average of 2 skulls of adult males from Wash- 

 mgton, D. C: Greatest length, 33.8 (33.6-33.9) ; palatilar length, 13.1 

 (12.7-13.5) ; mastoidal breadth, 12.7 (12.6-12.8) ; interorbital breadth, 

 6.8 (6.7-6.8); maxillary tooth row, 11.2 (11.1-11.2); mandibular 

 molar-premolar row, 11.2 (11.1-11.3). 



Remarlcs. — ^Linnaeus' s description, in 1758, of the star-nosed mole 

 under the name Sorex cristafus, appears to be its first mention in 

 literature; on the authority of Kalm, Pennsylvania is given as its 



