﻿Dec, 1895.] 



SOREX NEVADENSIS. 



71 



SOREX ORIZABA sp. uov. 



Type from Mount Orizaba, State of Puebla, Mexico (altitude, 9,500 feet). Type, No. 

 53633, 9 ad., U. S. Nat, Mus., Department of Agriculture collection. Collected April 

 24, 1893, by E. W. Nelson. Original number, 4733. 



General characters.— ^izQ small; tail short; ears conspicuous; liind 

 footj 13 mm. Similar to S. vagrans and monticola, but tail shorter, 

 coloration darker^ pelage longer, with numerous long hairs on rump; 

 molar i form teeth smaller. 



OoZor.— Upper parts finely mixed sepia brown and dusky (no chest- 

 nut tinge), darkest on posterior half of back; under parts ashy gray, 

 sometimes faintly washed with brownish; tail bicolor: dark brown 

 above, whitish beneath, with line of demarcation usually distinct. 



Cranial and dental characters.— Skull hardly distinguishable from 

 that of S. monticola (from Arizona), but molariform teeth smaller and 

 anterior unicuspids narrower, having much less of the ridge on inner 

 side that is so prominent in monticola and vagrans. 



Measurements. — Type specimen: Total length, 103 mm.; tail verte- 

 brae, 38 mm.; hind foot, 13 mm. Average of 7 specimens from type 

 locality (Mount Orizaba): Total length, 99.0 mm.; tail vertebra, 

 35.4 mm.; hind foot, 13 mm. 



General remarhs. — Sorex orizahce is the smallest Shrew thus far dis- 

 covered in Mexico. It is also the only one with a light belly. It belongs 

 to the vagrans group, and is very closely related to S. monticola of the 

 mountains of Arizona. 



Specimens examined. — Total number, 18, from the following localities 

 in southern Mexico: Mount Orizaba, Puebla (type locality), 7; Mount 

 Malinche, Tlaxcala, 2 ; Oofre de Perote, Vera Cruz, 1 ; Salazar, Mexico, 

 2; north slope Yolcan Toluca, Mexico, 3; l^ahuatzin, Michoacan, 3. 



SOREX NEVADENSIS sp. nov. 



Type from Reese River, Nevada. Type, No. flfgi, S atl-, U. S. Nat. Mus., Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture collection. Collected November 24, 1890, by Vernon Bailey. 

 Original number^ 2150. 



General characters. — Size small; tail shorter than body without head; 

 hind foot, about 12.5 mm.; coloration peculiar, indistinctly tricolor. 

 Similar in general to 8. vagrans^ but tail shorter and color very different. 



Color. — Upper iDarts finely mixed slate black and hoary; sides indis- 

 tinctly buffy or very pale brownish fulvous; under parts hoary, without 

 sharp line of demarcation. Ears brownish; tail sharply bicolor: dusky 

 above and whitish below, except near tip, which is dark all round. 



Cranial and dental characters. — Skull similar to that of vagrans^ 

 but slightly smaller; brain case flatter; interpterygoid fossa narrower. 

 Teeth as in vagrans. 



Measurements. — Average of 1 specimens from type locality: Total 

 length, 96.5 mm.; tail vertebrse, 39 mm.; hind foot, 12.5 mm. 



