﻿Dec, 1895.] 



HISTORY OF EASTERN SHREWS. 



37 



In 1857 Baird placed Sorex 'palustris among the species UDknown to 

 Mm, but which he considered as probably worthy of recognition. At 

 the same time he described the new genus Neosorex and the species 

 Neosorex navigator, from Washington. 



Our first accurate knowledge of Sorex palustris dates from 1890, when 

 Dr. Dobson figured the teeth of the type specimen, ' and in another 

 paper published the same year '-^ discussed the validity of the genus 

 Reosorex. Dr. Dobson came to the conclusion that Sorex palustris and 

 Neosorex navigator are the same, and that Neosorex, so far from being 

 a genus, can not even be recognized as a subgenns. A year later 

 Dr. Merriam recorded Sorex palustris from Idaho, at the same time 

 remarking that he considered Neosorex a very good subgenus.^ 



The type specimen of Sorex palustris in the British Museum is dingy 

 and discolored. For years it was exhibited as a mounted specimen, 

 but is now kept as a skin. In color it is unlike any Shrew that I have 

 seen, but resembles S. hendirii more than any other. The fur is gone 

 from the middle of the belly, but what remains on the chin, throat, and 

 sides agrees in color with that of the corresponding parts in S. hendirii. 

 The color is, however, so obviously unnatural that it can not be con- 

 sidered of any importance, especially as it is not in the least as described 

 by Eichardson. Keasons have already been given for believing that 

 Eichardson's name should be applied to the paler-bellied western form 

 of Marsh Shrew (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XXVI, March 24, 1894, 

 181, 182), and after examining the type I see no necessity for changing 

 this opinion. The specimen being in such condition as to furnish no 

 evidence, it is still necessary to ,pidge the old descriptions on tbeir own 

 merits. As all the early accounts of Sorex jialustris refer to its pale, 

 ash-gray belly, and as the geographical range — indefinite though it is — 

 coincides with that of the western animal, it is proper to apply the 

 name to the latter. That the type of Sorex palustris is a Neosorex and 

 not an Atophyrax is shown by the teeth, which are nearly unworn.'^ 



Sorex alhibarhis. — The type of Sorex albibarbis was taken by Prof. 

 E. D. Cope in 1859 at Profile Lake, New Hampshire. The original 

 descrix^tion of the species appeared three years later m the Proceedings 

 of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences.^ 



Soon after Professor Oope published his account of Sorex albibarbis 

 Prof. A. E. Verrill recorded a specimen from Warwick, Mass., and 

 attempted to i)rove the identity of the animal with Richardson's Sorex 

 palustris.^ In this attempt he was so far successful that iie has been 

 followed by Mr. J. A. Allen in his Catalogue of the Mammals of Mass.'^ 



iMon. Insectivora, Part III, fasc. 1, PI. XXIII, fig. 18. 



-Proc. Zool. Soc. Loudon, p. 51. 



^N. Am. Fauna No. 5, p. 35, July, 1891. 



-'The teeth as figured by Dobson (Mon. lusectivora, Part III, fasc. 1, PL XXIII, 

 fig. 18) appear somewhat too deep from apex to root. 

 sProc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1862, p, 188. 

 fiProc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., IX, p. 164. 1862. 

 7 Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., I, p. 211, 1869. 



