﻿Dec, 1895.] 



SOREX TENELLUS AND NANUS. 



81 



Specimens examined. — Total number, 7, from the following localities 

 in California: Glen Ellen, Sonoma County, 1; Walnut Creek, Contra 

 Costa County (type locality), 4; Berkeley, Alameda County, 2. 



SOREX TENELLUS sp. nov. 

 (PL XII, figs. 8, 9.) 



Type from summit of Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, Owens Valley, Calif. Type, 

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

 December 22, 1890, by E. W. Nelson. Original number, 131. 



General characters. — Size small; coloration pale; skull flat, as in 

 >S^. californicus, but smaller and much narrower. 



Color. — Upper parts pale ash gray, under i)arts and feet white; tail 

 bicolor ; dark above, white beneath. 



Cranial and dental characters. — Skull small, slender, and very flat; 

 brain case depressed to plane of rostrum, which is nearly horizontal: 

 palate narrow. Teeth much as in >S'. californicus. 



Measurements (in flesh). — Type specimen: Total length, 103mm.; tail 

 vertebra?, 42 mm.; hind foot, 12.5 mm. Average of 2 specimens from 

 White Mountains, California: Total length, 98 mm.; tail vertebrge, 

 41 mm.; hind foot, 12.2 mm. 



General remarks.— Sor ex tenellus is a third member of the group of 

 flat-skulled Shrews comprising 8. californicus and 8. namis. It differs 

 strikingly from californicus in the narrowness of its skull. 



Specimens examined. — Total number, 3, from the following localities 

 in southeastern California: Alabama Hills, near Lone Pine, Owens 

 Valley, 1; White Mountains, 2. 



SOREX TENELLUS NANUS subsp. nov. 

 (PI. VIII, figs. 5, 5a.) 



Type from Estes Park, Colorado. Type, No. 73773, 9 ad., U. S, Nat. Mus., Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture collection. Collected August 3, 1895, by E. A. Preble. 



General characters. — One of the smallest of the American Shrews 

 (hind foot, 10 mm.). Similar to S. tenellus, but smaller and darker; 

 skull more slender and teeth smaller. 



Color. — Upper parts sepia brown, darkest on the back, under parts 

 and feet grayish ash ; tail bicolor : upper side concolor with back, except 

 at tip, which is decidedly darker, under side whitish. 



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

 even smaller and more slender; anterior x^art of rostrum narrower and 

 more attenuate; constriction less swollen ; palate narrower; molariform 

 teeth smaller (especially m^). Compared with S. longirostris^ the whole 

 skull is much flatter and more slender. 



Measurements. — Type specimen: Total length, 105 mm.; tail verte- 

 brae, 42 mm. ; hind foot, 10 mm. 



4110— ^[o. 10 — -6 • 



