﻿Dec, 1895.] 



SOREX FUMEUS. 



65 



the belly from (3liin to root of tail; color of upper parts ratlier abruptly 

 (iifl'erent from tliat of belly; tail concolor, same color as rump. 



Dental characters. — Unicuspids large and strongly imbricatiug; first 

 and second subequal; third smaller but decidedly larger than fourth. 

 Viewed from below, unicuspids 1 to 4 are subquadrate in outline. 



Measurements (from dry skin, probably too short). — Total length, 

 110 mm. 5 tail vertebrae, 42 mm.; pencil, 6 mm.; hind foot, 13.5 mm. 



General remarks. — The above description and measurements were 

 taken by me from a specimen collected by Dr. Robert Bell on Shamat- 

 tawa River, a tributary of Hayes River, Hudson Bay, and now in the 

 Museum of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, at 

 Ottawa. The specimen was compared with the type of spliagnicola., 

 in the United States National Museum, by Mr. F. W. True, Gerrit S. 

 Miller, jr., and myself. The type specimen of sphagnicola is in very 

 bad condition, but we were unable to discover any character by which 

 the Hayes River spe(dmen could be separated from it. The only appar- 

 ent difterence is in the hairs of the under side of the tail, which in the 

 worn specimen are much shorter and stiffer, like bristles. Precisely 

 this difference may be seen in a series of Sorex richardsoni from South 

 Edmonton, Alberta, and is evidently the result of wear. 



Sorex sphagnicola seems to be closely related to S. richardsoni^ from 

 which it may be distinguished by the color of the sides. In sphagnicola 

 the sooty black of the upper parts reaches down over the sides and 

 encroaches on the belly; in richardsoni the sides are butfy or pale ful- 

 vous, in sharp contrast with the color of the back. 



Dr. Bell's specimen from Hayes River, Hudson Bay, on which the 

 above description is based, was named Sorex belli by Dobson in 1885, 

 but his description was never published. Dr. Dobson suspected its 

 identity with 8. sphagnicola, and suggested that the type specimens 

 be compared, which has been done, with the result above stated. Dr. 

 Bell's specimen ''was the 'totem' of an Indian chief from whom it was 

 stolen, and when he missed it he went on the war path." 



SOREX FUMEUS Miller. 

 (PI. IX, figs. 2, 2a.) 



^orex plafyrhinus Dobson, Monog. Insectivora, Part III, fasc. 1, PI. XXIII, fig. 5, 

 May, 1890. 



Sorex fumeus Miller, N. Am. Fauna, No. 10, December, 1895, pp. 50-52. 



Type locality.— ^Qt^Thom^ Madison County, N. Y. 



Geographic distrihntion. — Canadian and upper part of Transition 

 faunas of eastern United States; southward in higher Alleghenies to 

 mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. 



General characters.— ^ize rather large (hind foot, 13 mm.); tail rather 

 short; ears prominent; animal nearly concolor. 



(7oZor. —Plumbeous pelage: Upper parts dark slate color, becoming 

 gradually paler below; under parts plumbeous, more or less washed 

 4110—^0. 10 5 



