﻿10 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[1^0. 10. 



Geograpliie (listrihution. — Broadly, the Austral region of tlie eastern 

 half of the United States. One species {B. hrevicauda) reaches the 



southern edge of the Boreal in south- 

 ern Canada and the mountains farther 

 south; another {B.peninsulw) inhabits 

 peninsular Florida. 



Xumher of representatives. — Only 4 

 members of the subgenus Blarina are 

 here recognized — the large B. hrevi- 

 cauda and tehnalestes, and the smaller 

 carolineusis and peninsulce. Several 

 slightly characterized local forms of 

 hrevicauda might be defined, but are 

 not deemed worthy of recognition by 

 name. B. hrevicauda intergrades with caroUnensis, and carolinensis 

 with peninsulce^ leaving telmalestes as the only com]3letely isolated form 

 now known. 



KEY TO SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES. 



Size largest (total length about 120 mm. or more) ; brain case and under jaw strongly 

 ngular. 



Postero-internal lobe of molars narrow and elliptical hrevicauda 



Postero-interual lobe of molars broad and rounded telmalestes 



Size smaller (length less than 100 mm.); brain case and under jaw less angular. 

 Color dull plumbeous washed with brownish (hind foot about 



12 mm.) carolinensis 



Color slate black (hind foot more than 13 mm.) peninsulce 



BLAEINA BREVICAUDA (Say). Large Blarina. 



PI. 1, figs. 2-4; PL 2, figs. 1-4. 



ORIGINAL REFERENCES. 



1823. Sorex hrevicaudus Say in Long's Exped, to the Rocky Mts., I, 1823, 164. (From 

 near Blair, Nebr.) 



1830. Sorex talpoides Capper, Zool. Jour,, V, 1830, 202, PI. YIIL (From vicinity of 



Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.) 

 1837. Sorex dekayi (Cooper) Bachman, Jour. Acad. Is at. Sci. Phila., YII, Part II, 



1837, 377-381. (From New Jersey.) 

 1857. Blarina amjusticeps Baird, Mammals N. Am,, 1857, 47-48. (Deformed skull from 



Burlington, Yt.). 



1891. Blarina costaricensis Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Xat. Hist, New York, III, 1891, 205- 

 206. (Supposed to be from Costa Pica, but really from the Upper Mississippi 

 Yalley. See j;os/m, p. 12.) 



SECONDARY REFERENCES. 



Sorex hrevicaudus Bach., Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., YII, Part II, 1837, 3; Aud. and 



Bach., Quadrupeds X. Am., Ill, 1854, 335-336. 

 Corsira (Blarina) talpoides Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London^ 1837 (June, 1838), 124 



[= Sorex talpoides Gapper = S. hrevicaudus Say]. 

 Blarina hrevicaudata Lesson, Nouv. Tableau Mammif., 1842, 89. 



Galemys (Bracliysorex) micrurus Pomel, Archiv. Sci. Phys. et Nat.. Geneve, 1848, 249. 

 Blarina hrevicauda Baird, Mammals N. Am., 1857, 42-45; Merriam, Mammals Adiron- 

 dacks, 1884, 164-173 (habits). 



Fig. 1.— Upper series of teeth of Blarina 

 carolinenhis. a. Outer side ; b. Crowns. 



