﻿Dec, 1895.] 



BLARINA FLORIDANA. 



19 



BLARINA FLORIDANA sp. nov. Small Florida Blarina. 

 PI. 1, fig. 7. 



Type from Chester Shoal, 11 miles north of Cape Canaveral, Brevard County, Fla. 

 No. U. S. Nat. Mus., Department of Agriculture collection. Collected 



April 22, 1889, by Morris M. Green. Original number, 44. 



Geographic distrih ut mi. —Fenmmlsir Florida, south of latitude 29o. 

 Exact limits of range unknown. 

 Habitat — Palmetto scrub. 



General cJmracters.—ShnilsiT to B. parva, but larger, with longer 

 skull, whiter teeth, and larger molars, which are less deeply emargi- 

 nate posteriorly. 



OoZor.— Upper parts in winter uniform iron gray, with a decided 

 'pepper and salt' appearance j in summer, browner and more inclined 

 to sepia; under parts paler. 



Cranial and dental characters. — Skull similiar to that of parva, hut 

 longer (18 instead of 16 mm.); last unicuspid visible from outside; 

 color of teeth paler and restricted to tips of cusps ; posterior border 

 of hirge molars (m^ and m^) only slightly concave, as in herlandieri, 

 not deeply excavated as in parva. The large molariform upper pre- 

 molar has only a relatively shallow emargination behind, instead of 

 the deep excavation of parva ; and the notch on the front of the 

 inner side is much smaller, and does not reach all the way down verti- 

 cally (see pi. 3, fig.ll). 



Measurements. — Average of 2 specimens from type locality: Total 

 length, 89 mm.; tail vertebrae, 22 mm.; hind foot, 12 mm. 



General remarks. — It is interesting from a geograx)hic standpoint to 

 note that in essential characters Blarina floridana agrees with J5. her- 

 landieri, which latter animal likewise inhabits an extension of the 

 tropical fauna into the United iStates. That the two are not connected 

 around the Gulf of Mexico is evident from the fact that specimens 

 from southern Louisiana and Mississippi are very different, agreeing 

 in t.he characters of their molars with true parva. Baird had a single 

 specimen of this species, of which he said: "A very badly preserved 

 specimen in alcohol from Indian Eiver, Florida, exhibits some differ- 

 ences, especially in the longer tail and larger size generally, includ- 

 ing the skull and feet. For the present, however, I shall refer it to 

 B. cinerea.^^^ 



Specimens examined. — Only 4 specimens of floridana have been exam- 

 ined — 2 from the type locality, Chester Shoal, 11 miles north of Canav- 

 eral ; 1 from Micco, and 1 from Gainesville. 



1 Baird, Mammals N. Am., 1857, 49 



