ATOPHYRAX BENDIRII. 
2 19 
of the palate to the foramen magnum is, in Sorex, 44.4 ; in Neosorex , 
43.9. This production of the rostrum is accompanied by a corre- 
sponding increase in the length of the under jaw, and shortening 
of the distance between the glenoid process and occipital condyle, 
the ratio of which, to the entire length of the cranium, is 46.3 in 
Sorex, and 43.9 in Neosorex. In Neosorex the distance from the 
posterior margin of the palate to the front incisor is considerably 
greater than the distance from the same point to the foramen 
magnum. In Sorex the posterior margin of the palate is situate 
nearly midway between the front incisor and the foramen magnum. 
On the floor of the cranium, the narrowest part of the basi-occipital 
is broader in Neosorex than in Sorex. 
Turning, now, to the animal under consideration, and examining 
it with reference to the points concerned in the above comparison, 
the fact appears that, while it is in some respects intermediate 
between the two genera, it also differs widely from both. The 
rostrum is even longer and more attenuate than in Neosorex , with 
a well-marked angle laterally at its point of union with the cranium. 
The unicuspid series are nearly parallel. The ratio of the length of 
rostrum to the entire length of skull is 57.7 ; in Neosorex it is 56 ; 
and in Sorex 55.5. The ratio to length of skull of the distance 
from hinder margin of palate to the foramen magnum is 40.8 ; in 
Neosorex 43.9 ; in Sorex 44.4. (For other ratios see table A, p. 
22 5 -) 
So far as dental characters are concerned it stands alone among 
the species of the Pacific region. Prof. Baird, in his diagnosis of 
the genus Neosorex, stated that the fourth unicuspid was larger than 
the third. He further called attention to the circumstance that all 
the known species of Sorex from the Pacific Province had the third 
upper unicuspid decidedly smaller than the fourth.* Twenty years 
later (in 18 77) Dr. Cones thus commented upon this feature : “ A 
striking peculiarity of all the Western species, no matter how diverse 
Pacific Railroad Reports, Vol. VIII, 1857, p. 13. 
