﻿92 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[N"o. 10. 



in the flesh: Total lengthy 157 mm.j tail vertebrae, 68 mm.; liind foot, 

 20 mm. — a remarkably close agreement. 



Oeneral remarlcs. — Sorex palustris requires comparison with two 

 closely related forms which it separates geographically, and with both 

 of which it probably intergrades — S. albiharbis of the mountains of 

 northern New England and i^ew York (and i)robably Ontario also), and 

 S. navigator of the Rockj^ Mountains and Sierra Nevada. From the 

 former it may be distinguished by its white belly and sharply bicolor 

 tail at all seasons; from the latter by larger size, darker color of upper 

 parts, and much broader unicusx^ids. 



Specimens examined. — Total number, 9, from the following localities : 



Alberta: South Edmouton, 1. 



Minnesota: Tower (Vermilion Lake), 1; Elk River, 7. 



SOREX (NEOSOREX) PALUSTRIS NAVIGATOr| Baird. ] 

 (PL XI, figs. 1-6.) 



Neosorex navigator (Cooper MS.) Baird, Mam. N. Am., pp. 11-12, PI. XXYI, 1857. 

 Sorex palustris Merriam, N. Am. Fauna No. 5, p. 35, August, 1891. (Idaho.) 



Type locality. — Unknown; probably northern Idaho. ^ 



Geographic distribution. — The Rocky Mountains and outlying ranges 



from British Columbia to southern Colorado, and the Sierra IsTevada of 



v^alifornia south to the Sequoia IsTational Park. 

 jiabitat, — Mountain streams. 



General characters. — Similar to N^. ptalustr is , hut decidedly smaller; 

 coloration more plumbeous. 



Color. — Upper parts plumbeous, finely mixed with hoary; under parts 

 varying from silvery white to dull white, often clouded across the breast 

 and on anal region ; tail sharply bicolor : dusky above and all round 

 near tip, white below. 



Cranial characters. — Skull and teeth similar to those of palustris^ but 

 decidedly smaller (skull of type 20.5 by 9.6 mm.); brain case flatter; 

 palate and interpterygoid fossa narrower. Unicuspidate teeth narrow 

 (transverse diameter much less than antero-posterior instead of greater). 



^Baird gave the locality of the type specimen as Fort Vancouver, Wash. But Dr. 

 Cooxjer, who collected it, states: ^'According to the label now attached [this speci- 

 men] was found at Fort Vancouver, but I am inclined to consider this a mistake, and 

 that it was really taken while swimming under water in a lake near the summit of 

 the Cascade Mountains." It is evident that the type specimen, like many other 

 alcoholic mammals collected in the early days, was not labeled until long after its 

 capture, and that little dependence can be placed on either of the alleged localities. 

 Furthermore, since the subgenus Neosorex is unknown from the Cascade region, and 

 probably does not inhabit western Oregon or Washington, which region is occupied 

 by the allied subgenus Atophijrax, it is highly improbable that the specimen came 

 from either of the alleged localities. It agrees closely with specimens from western 

 Montana, and probably came from some point in northern Idaho or the mountains 

 east of Fort Colville, in extreme northeastern Washington, which region was visited 

 by Dr. Cooper during the same expedition. 



