﻿THE LONG-TAILED SHREWS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



By Geerit S. Millee, Jr. 



During the suTniner of 1894 I was enabled, through the kindness of 

 Mr. Oldfleld Thomas, to examine in the British Museum the original 

 specimens of three Shrews {Sorex pahistris, /S./orstert, and S. 2)a)'vus) 

 described by Eichardson nearly seventy years ago. but since then not 

 positively identified. In explaining the results of this study it is 

 necessary to consider all the Long-tailed Shrews of the eastern United 

 States. 



Writers on the Shrews of eastern Xorth America have without 

 exception worked with inadequate material, and, as a result, left the 

 nomenclature in a chaotic state. Thus, to the common Sorex personatus 

 no less than ten specific names have been applied, while another species 

 (Sorex forsteri Baird nec Eichardson) has been allowed to go unnamed. 

 On the other hand, certain names — as, for instance, ISorex forsteri or 

 Sorex richardsoni — have been used to designate as man 3^ as three spe- 

 cies. Much of this confusion is the result of a lack of appreciation of 

 the facts that in determining closely allied Shrews it is necessary to 

 compare specimens in the same phase of pelage, and in which the 

 original form of the teeth has not been sensibly altered by wear. The 

 extent to which the form of the teeth changes with age is shown in PI. 

 IV, fig. 8, as compared with figs. 5, 6, and 7. That there is much indi- 

 vidual variation in the form and relative size of the teeth is another 

 circumstance which has not been properly taken into account. As a 

 result, {Specimens of one Shrew have been referred to two or more spe- 

 cies placed in difierent sections of the genus. Variation of this kind 

 is illustrated by figs. 5, 6, and 7 of PI. IV, which show the unworn 

 unicuspid teeth of three specimens of Sorex i)ersonatus taken at one 

 locality. The seasonal changes in color are much greater than has 

 been supposed. Sorex aWiharbis is in summer nearly unicolor, while 

 in winter the belly is so much paler than the back and sides as to give 

 the animal a resemblance to the bicolored S. imlustris. Many speci- 

 mens of Sorex fumeus taken during mid- summer are by color alone 

 with diflQculty separated from ^S'. iJersonatus^ to which in winter it bears 

 no likeness. In most Shrews the fur is noticeably longer and softer in 

 autumn and winter than in summer, and at the same time the colors 

 are richer and more stronglj' contrasted. 



In preparing the following revision of the species of Sorex occurring 

 in the United States east of the Great Plains I have examined about 

 500 Shrews from that region. This material is in part from my own 



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