Part 3

Elliott (Field Columb. Mus. Nat. Hist., Publ. No. 115, Zool. Ser., 8:5, 1907) lists as Caluromys laniger pallidus a specimen from Honduras that was acquired for the Field Columbian Museum (= Chicago Natural History Museum) by purchase from Ward's Natural Science Establishment of Rochester, New York. On August 4, 1951, in the Chicago Natural History Museum, we found in the catalogue of the collection of Recent mammals an entry for a male Caluromys bearing catalogue number 6 and listed as from "San Pedro Sula [Honduras]. From Wards. Mounted". In the collection of study specimens there is no specimen from Honduras that was purchased from Ward's, mounted or unmounted. In the sealed, glass-fronted, exhibit cases of mammals on display there is one, and only one, Caluromys. It is presumed to be specimen No. 6. This specimen is not C. d. pallidus because it is too dark. It could be Caluromys derbianus fervidus and we tentatively refer it to that subspecies.

~Caluromys derbianus pallidus~ (Thomas)

From Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Harris (Occas. Papers Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 476:7, October 8, 1943) listed as Caluromys laniger centralis a female, skull and skin, No. 62702 in the Museum of Zoology of the University of Michigan. We have examined this specimen, the color of which is darker than in some other specimens of C. d. pallidus but lighter than that of specimens of C. d. centralis (for example, specimens from Turrialba, Costa Rica) and on basis of color we refer No. 62702 to Caluromys derbianus pallidus.

~Scalopus aquaticus aereus~ (Bangs)

Bangs' (Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 10:138, December 28, 1896) name S. a. aereus was based on a single specimen that shows more than an average amount of coppery color. Jackson (N. Amer. Fauna, 38:52, September 30, 1915) and subsequent authors accord full specific rank to the specimen under the name Scalopus aereus. Blair (Amer. Midland Nat., 22:98, July, 1939) recorded, from the type locality of Scalopus aereus, normally colored individuals of Scalopus aquaticus pulcher Jackson. Previously, Scheffer (Kansas State Agric. College, Exp. Bull., 168:4, August 1, 1910) reported that in his examination of 100 individuals of Scalops [= Scalopus] aquaticus from Manhattan, Kansas, there were two individuals "that were suffused all over with rich golden brown." Because our examination of the type specimen of Scalops texanus aereus Bangs reveals no features additional to coppery color that differentiate aereus from other individuals of Scalopus aquaticus pulcher Jackson (Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 27:19, February 2, 1914) we conclude that Jackson's name and Bangs' name (Scalops texanus aereus) apply to the same subspecies. Bangs' name has priority and the correct name, therefore, for the populations of moles that in recent years have been designated as Scalopus aereus Bangs and Scalopus aquaticus pulcher Jackson will be Scalopus aquaticus aereus (Bangs). This name combination was previously used by Miller (U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 79:8, December 31, 1912).

~Scalopus aquaticus australis~ (Chapman)

Quay (Jour. Mamm., 30:66, February 14, 1949) recorded Scalopus aquaticus from Springhill Plantation, 10 miles south-southwest of Thomasville, Georgia. He stated that the specimens were intermediate between the subspecies S. a. australis and S. a. howelli, but did not refer the specimens to either subspecies. The locality whence the material was obtained is approximately half way between the geographic ranges, as previously known, of S. a. australis and S. a. howelli (see Jackson, N. Amer. Fauna, 38, September 30, 1915).

The specimens recorded by Quay probably are two females in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History bearing Catalogue Nos. 18136 and 18262 and labeled as from Springhill Plantation, Thomas County, Georgia. We have examined these specimens and find that they resemble S. a. howelli in narrowness across the upper tooth-rows, but that they resemble S. a. australis in length of tail (22, 24), in shortness of maxillary tooth-row (9.5, 9.5), and in convex dorsal outline of the skull. Accordingly, we refer the specimens to Scalopus aquaticus australis.

~Sorex cinereus cinereus~ Kerr

In his revision of the American long-tailed shrews, Jackson (N. Amer. Fauna, 51, vi + 238, 13 pls., 24 figs., July 24, 1928) referred specimens of Sorex cinereus from Tyonek, Cook Inlet, Alaska, to the subspecies S. c. cinereus (op. cit.: 46) and one specimen from Chester Creek, Anchorage, Alaska, to the subspecies S. c. hollisteri (op. cit.: 56). Thus, the geographic ranges of the two subspecies would seem to overlap around the northern shores of Cook Inlet. In an attempt to resolve this seemingly anomalous distribution, we have examined pertinent materials in the Biological Surveys Collection, U.S. National Museum. We agree with Jackson (op. cit.) that the series of specimens from Tyonek is readily referable to S. c. cinereus. To our eye, however, the specimen, No. 232691, from Anchorage is referable to Sorex cinereus cinereus, rather than to S. c. hollisteri. The reference is made on the basis of the darker color, especially of the underparts. In this specimen, other characters that distinguish the two mentioned subspecies are not apparent, probably because it is relatively young; the teeth show only slight wear.

~Sorex trowbridgii humboldtensis~ Jackson

In his account of the long-tailed shrews, Jackson (N. Amer. Fauna, 51:98, July 24, 1928) listed under specimens examined of Sorex trowbridgii montereyensis four specimens from 7 mi. N Hardy, Mendocino Co., California. Under his account of the subspecies S. t. humboldtensis, however, he (op. cit.:97) mentions that specimens (seemingly the same four) from 7 mi. N Hardy "have shorter tails than typical representatives of humboldtensis, but in color and cranial characters they are similar to this [humboltensis] subspecies." We conclude, therefore, that the specimens mentioned were inadvertently listed as S. t. montereyensis and are Sorex trowbridgii humboldtensis. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the locality concerned, 7 mi. N Hardy, is within the geographic range assigned to S. t. humboldtensis by Jackson (op. cit.:97); his southern records of occurrence of S. t. humboldtensis are Sherwood and Mendocino, both in Mendocino County, California. Our conclusion is further supported by Grinnell's (Univ. California Publ. Zool., 40(2):80, September 26, 1933) statement of the range of S. t. montereyensis as "from southern Mendocino County south...."

~Blarina brevicauda churchi~ Bole and Moulthrop

Kellogg (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 86:253, February 14, 1939) tentatively referred specimens of the short-tailed shrew from the mountainous parts of eastern Tennessee to the subspecies Blarina brevicauda talpoides, with the remark that they were unlike specimens of that subspecies obtained in eastern and southern West Virginia. Subsequently, Bole and Moulthrop (Sci. Publ. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., 5:109, September 11, 1942) named the subspecies Blarina brevicauda churchi with type locality at Roan Mountain, North Carolina. We have examined the specimens in the U.S. National Museum recorded by Kellogg (loc. cit.) from the following localities: Shady Valley, 2900 ft. (Catalogue No. 267182); Holston Mtn., 4 mi. NE Shady Valley, 3800 ft. (Nos. 267176-267178, 267180, and 267181); Holston Mtn., 3 mi. NE Shady Valley, 3000 ft. (No. 267179); Roan Mtn., (Nos. 267469-267475); Mt. Guyot, 6300 ft. (No. 267183); 4-1/2 mi. SE Cosby, 3300 and 3400 ft. (Nos. 267184 and 267185); and Snake Den Mtn., 3800 ft. (No. 267186). Among named kinds of Blarina brevicauda, we find these specimens to resemble most closely Blarina brevicauda churchi and so refer them. They are readily distinguishable from specimens of B. b. kirtlandi, that occurs farther north in the same mountain range, by larger size and longer tail. Incidentally, in the specimens that we have examined, we do not find that B. b. churchi is darker colored than other subspecies of Blarina brevicauda; B. b. churchi, to us, is indistinguishable in color from B. b. kirtlandi. Bole and Moulthrop (op. cit.) thought that B. b. churchi was notably darker than other subspecies from adjoining areas.

~Blarina brevicauda carolinensis~ (Bachman)

Blair (Amer. Midland Nat., 22(1):99, July, 1939) referred specimens of the short-tailed shrew from the Arbuckle Mountain area of Oklahoma to Blarina brevicauda hulophaga and specimens from Mohawk Park, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, to B. b. carolinensis. Later Bole and Moulthrop (Sci. Publs. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., 5:108, September 11, 1942) saw two of the specimens from Mohawk Park and assigned them to B. b. hulophaga. According to the most recent published account, therefore, B. b. hulophaga would seem to have a peculiarly discontinuous geographic range. We have examined the material seen by Blair and by Bole and Moulthrop (Nos. 75946, 75947, 75643, Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan) in an attempt to form our own judgment as to their subspecific identity. The teeth of No. 75946 are well worn, whereas the teeth of the other two are scarcely worn. We are unable to distinguish No. 75946 from topotypes of B. b. carolinensis by size, color, or cranial features. The two younger specimens are smaller and paler, but do not agree with the description of B. b. hulophaga. The nearly-complete narrow, white girdle of No. 75947 is clearly an individual variation. We assign the animals to Blarina brevicauda carolinensis (Bachman) as did Blair (loc. cit.).

~Blarina brevicauda minima~ Lowery

Bailey (N. Amer. Fauna, 25:207, October 24, 1905) identified as Blarina brevicauda carolinensis one specimen from Joaquin and two specimens from Big Thicket, 8 mi. NE Sour Lake, both localities in eastern Texas. Strecker and Williams (Jour. Mamm., 10:259, August 10, 1929) later recorded the specimens again under the same name. The subsequent naming of B. b. plumbea from Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Aransas County, Texas (Davis, Jour. Mamm., 22(3):317, August 14, 1941) and B. b. minima from Louisiana (Lowery, Occas. Papers Mus. Zool., Louisiana St. Univ., 13:218, November 22, 1943) leaves the identity of the specimens from eastern Texas in doubt. We have examined the following specimens in the Biological Surveys Collection, U.S. National Museum: No. 117372, from Joaquin; No. 136407, from 7 mi. NE Sour Lake; and No. 136788, from 8 mi. NE Sour Lake. We judge these to be the specimens referred to by Bailey (loc. cit.). We find that they are indistinguishable from specimens of Blarina brevicauda minima and they seem to differ from B. b. plumbea in being chestnut rather than plumbeous in color and in lacking the highly-arched posterior border of the palate. They are easily distinguished from B. b. carolinensis by their chestnut, rather than slaty-black, color and small size. They are distinguishable from B. b. hulophaga, to which they might conceivably be referred on geographic grounds, by their color and small size. We refer them to Blarina brevicauda minima Lowery.

~Spilogale angustifrons angustifrons~ A. H. Howell

In his "Revision of the skunks of the genus Spilogale" (N. Amer. Fauna, 26, November 24, 1906) A. H. Howell identified certain specimens in the United States National Museum as follows:

Spilogale leucoparia, sad. 55585 from Tulancingo, Hidalgo (op. cit.:21).

Spilogale gracilis, sad. 88154 from San Sebastian in Jalisco, ad. 79017 from Lagos in Jalisco, ad. 47177 from Patzcuaro in Michoacan (op. cit.:23).

Spilogale ambigua, ad. 35667/20437 from Barranca Ibarra in Jalisco, yg. 120101 from Ocotlan in Jalisco (op. cit.:25).

Hall and Villa (Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus. Nat. Hist, 1:448, December 27, 1949) inferred that No. 47177 from Patzcuaro was instead referable to Spilogale angustifrons angustifrons. Our examination of No. 47177 and of each of the other specimens mentioned by catalogue number immediately above leads us to conclude that they all are of one species, and that, among named kinds of Spilogale, they should be referred to the subspecies Spilogale angustifrons angustifrons Howell.

Our examination of all of the specimens that Howell (op. cit.) identified as Spilogale [angustifrons] angustifrons reveals that none of the specimens from the type locality had attained full adult stature; the holotype is a subadult and the other specimens from the type locality are even younger. The small size of these specimens from the type locality seems to have misled Howell into thinking that they were taxonomically distinct from the larger specimens--those from Jalisco, Michoacan and Hidalgo--that he identified as other kinds.

~Spilogale gracilis gracilis~ Merriam

In the genus Spilogale four specific names, concerning the status of which we have been uncertain, are listed below in the order of their appearance in the literature.

1890. Spilogale gracilis Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 3:83, September 11, type from bottom of canyon, Grand Canyon, Arizona.