604 



ilErOKT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Range. — The range of the species is from the Atlantic to Texas 

 and Nebraska and from the Gulf of Mexico northward to Penn- 

 sylvania and central Indiana. In this State its range coincides 

 closely with that of B. b. carolineyisis. Indiana records are: Ran- 

 dolph County, Brookville, Ohio County, Jefferson Countj^ Mitchell, 

 Bicknell, Terre Haute, Putnam County and Irvington. 



Habits. — The small size and retiring disposition of this little 

 shrew make it difficult to observe, and but little is known of its 

 habits. I have collected the species often, but have never seen it 

 alive. The specimens I have taken were all found in grassy places, 

 usually where briars and shrubs were mingled with the grass, but 

 never in the woods. Its food consists largely of insects and worms, 

 although it probably eats vegetable food also. 



. Genus Sorex Linnaeus. 



Sorex Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., Ed. 10, Vol. I, p. 53, 1758. 

 Merriam N. Am. Fauna, No. 10, 1895. 



Dental formula.— I, f~; C, Pm, fE?; M, = 32. 



Generic characters. — Size small, total length scarcely more than 

 four inches in our species; tail half the length of head and body 

 or longer ; body slender ; eyes rudimentary ; snout pointed ; feet 

 small and proportioned nearly as in a mouse; colors brownish or 

 slaty. 



SOREX PERSONATUS Geoffroy Saint Hilaire. 

 LONG-TAILED SHEEW. 

 Sorex personatus Saint Hilaire, Mem. du Museum Paris, Vol. 



15, p. 122, 1827. 

 Sorex forsteri Richardson, Zool. Journ., Vol. 3, p. 516, 1828. 



Evermann and Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci., 1893, p. 139. 

 Sorex cooperi Bachman, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phil., Vol. 7, 

 p. 388, 1837. 



Sorex platyrhinus Baird, Mam. N. Amer., p. 25, 1857. 



Evermann and Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. for 1893, p. 

 133, 1894. 



Sorex haydeni Baird, Mam. N. Am., p. 29, 1857. 



Sorex personatus Merriam, N. Am. Fauna, No. 10, p. 60, 1895. 



Diagnostic characters. — Size the smallest of any of our shrews 

 and one of the smallest of all mammals; total length about four 

 inches; tail one and a half inches ; form slender and snout pointed. 



Description. — Dorsal surface of body brown, brighter on rump 



