96 
as to show 110 opening or appearance of a concavity of auricle. Tail 
short; scarcely or not as long as the head; haired, with a small terminal 
pencil. Fore feet broad, palms naked, claws enlarged. Body stout; the 
species ranging from the largest to the smallest of American Shrews. 
In the sub-genus Sorecescus occur most of the species, and among them 
the smallest Shrews in America. Sorex parva, Say, the type species, and 
Blarina exilipes, Baird, extend north to the Ohio, and possibly may occur 
in Ohio. Say 
BLARINA (BLARINA) BREVICAUDA Baird. 
SHORT-TAILED SHREW, 
1823. Sorex brevicauda, Say, Long’s Expd., i, 1823, 164.—Harlan, Faun. 
Amer., 1825, 29.—Bachman, J. A. N. Sc. Ph., vii, 1837, 381.— 
Aud. & Bach., Quad. N. A., iii, 1854, 335. 
1836. Sorex talpoides, Gapper, Zool. Jour., v, June, 1830, 208. 
1887. Sorex dekayt, Bach., J. A. N. Sc. Ph., viii, 1837, 377.—Aud. & Bach., 
Q. N. A., iii, 1853, 246 (original description). 
1857. Blarina talpoides, Baird, Mam. N. A., 1857, 37. 
1857. Blarina brevicauda, Baird, Mam. N. A., 1857, 42. 
1877. Blarina (subg. Blarina) brevicauda, Coues, Precursory Notes on 
American Insectivorous Mammals.—Jordan, Manual of Vertes 
brates, 1876, p. 26, 2d ed., 1878, 352 (addenda). 
Description of Species.—Size large; 34 to 4 inches from nose to root of 
tail; tail 1 inch; tail to end cf hair 14+ inches; hind foot ~; extent of 
snout beyond teeth =. Form compact, with the head broad and massive. 
Tail short, about as long as the head, cylindrical, slightly depressed, naked 
at root, flesh-colored, thinly clothed with short, brownish drab hairs, ter- 
minated by a pencil. Fur dense and soft, plumbeous at the base, tipped 
with glossy leaden-brown on the back, and lighter on the belly. Teeth 
tipped with brown, becoming glossy dark-brown at the points of the in- 
eisors. The snout is flesh-color, the lobes brown. The minute black eye 
is visible in life, the opening through the skin being the size of a small 
pin-hole. The auricle is directed entirely forward, and fits exactly against 
the opening of the ear; on lifting it the other parts are seen well devel- 
oped. The hands are as wide or wider than the feet; palms and soles 
naked and sextuberculate. 
Geographical Distribution.—Range great—from eastern Nova Scotia to 
Lake Superior, and west to Nebraska ; southward, through Pennsylvania, 
to Columbus, Georgia. South of Pennsylvania it is replaced by the 
smaller B. carolinensis, if, indeed, the two species are not identical, in 
which case its southern range is extended from South Carolina to Missouri. 
