Miller.] 186 [Feb. 7, 
Blarina BREvrcAUDA (Say). 
/Sorex brevicaudus Say, Long's Exped., 1, p, 164, 1823. 
Blarina brevicanda Baird, Mam. N. Am., j). 42, 1857. 
Blarina brevicauda Allen, Bull. mus. comp. zool., v. 1, p. 
213, 1869, (part). 
Sp. Ch. Hind foot averagiuj^ about 16 ram. ; tail well liaired and 
generally witli a conspicuous pencil often 10 mm. in length when unworn ; 
colors always darlc and sooty; average length of slcull about 23.5 mm., 
rostral portion broad and lieavy. 
Adult ($ No. liftf U. S. national museum, Council Blufts, Iowa, 
November 14, 1891) : color of dorsal aspect intermediate between seal- 
brown and mouse-gray, almost blackish in some lights, in others Avith a 
dull metallic gloss, fading into rather dark smoke-gray on the belly; 
tail not sharply bicolor, brownish dorsally, paler ventrally; dorsum of 
manus and pes concolor with belly. 
The cranial characters of this species may be more conveniently 
discnssed with tliose of the next. 
Blarina talpoides (Gapper). 
Sorex talpoides Gai>\:)ev, Zool. journ., v. 5, p. 208, pi. 8, June, 
1830. 
Blarina talpoides Baird, Mam. N. Am., p. 37, 1857. 
Blarina brevicauda Allen, Bull. mus. comp. zool., v. 1, p. 
213, 1869, (part). 
Sp. Oh. Hind foot averaging about 14.4 mm. ; tail scantily haired and 
Avith pencil'seldom if ever exceeding 6 mm. ; color pale, and often silvery; 
average length of skull aljout 22.5 mm., rostral portion narrow. 
Adult (? No. 1148 collection of Gerrit S.Miller, Jr., Elizabethtown, 
N. Y., January 5, 1892) : back rather dark smoke-gray with a strong silvery 
gloss when held in certain lights, in other lights with a faint yellowish 
tinge; belly smoke-gray or shining silvery gray according to light; no 
sharp line of demarkation between colors of back and belly but change 
taking place rather suddenly on the sides; hairs on dorsal and ventral 
surfaces of tail concolor with fur of corresponding surfaces of the body; 
dorsum of manus and pes silvery gray. 
The difference in color between these animals is rather liard to 
describe, but it appeals to the eye at once when series are com- 
pared. In general B. brevicaiida has the duller, darker, more 
sooty tints, while B. talj^oides has the colors brighter, paler, and 
more silvery. In the worn summer pelage, the color diiferences 
are slight if any, but in the full autumn and winter coat they are 
well marked. The hairiness of the tail seems to be a ratlier 
variable character, as sonic iii(livi<liinls of B. brevicanda have the 
