Marginal Records.—Alaska: Chandler Lake, 68° 12' N, 152° 45' W; Yukon River, 20 mi. above Circle; Mountains near Eagle. Mackenzie: Nahanni River Mts.; Fort Simpson; Fort Resolution, Mission Island. Alberta: Wood Buffalo Park; Athabaska River, 30 mi. above Athabaska Landing. Saskatchewan: Cypress Hills. Montana: St. Mary; 4 mi. S Fort Logan; Pryor Mts. Wyoming: 1 mi. W and 1 mi. S Buffalo, 27424 KU; Springhill, 12 mi. N Laramie Peak; 5 mi. W and 1 mi. N Horse Creek PO. Colorado: Boulder; Hunters Creek; 5 mi. S and 1 mi. W Cuchara Camps. New Mexico: 3 mi. N Red River, 10,700 ft.; Pecos Baldy; Manzano Mts.; Jemez Mts. Colorado: Navajo River (Jackson, 1928:120); Silverton. Utah: La Sal Mts., 11,000 ft. Colorado: Baxter Pass. Utah: junction Trout and Ashley Creeks, 9700 ft. (Durrant, 1952:35); Mirror Lake, 10,000 ft.; Mt. Baldy R. S. (Durrant, 1952:53); Wildcat R. S.; Pine Valley Mts.; Puffer Lake; Butterfield Canyon. Idaho: Preuss Mts.; 4 mi. S Trude (Davis, 1939:104); head Pahsimeroi River, Pahsimeroi Mts.; Perkins Lake; 1 mi. NE Heath; ½ mi. E Black Lake. Montana: Sula; 8 mi. NE Stevensville. Washington: head Pass Creek; Conconully; Wenatchee; Easton; Stehekin; Pasayten River. British Columbia: Second Summit, Skagit River, 5000 ft., (Jackson, 1928:120); Babine Mts., 6 mi. N Babine Trail, 5200 ft.; Hazleton (Jackson, 1928:120); 23 mi. N Hazleton; Flood Glacier, Stikine River (Jackson, 1928:120); Cheonee Mts. (ibid.); Level Mtn.; west side Mt. Glave, 4000 ft., 14 mi. S and 2 mi. E Kelsall Lake. Alaska: head Toklat River; Tanana; Alatna; Bettles.

Sorex vagrans soperi Anderson and Rand

Sorex obscurus soperi Anderson and Rand, Canadian Field-Nat., 59:47, October 16, 1945.

Type.—Adult male, skin and skull; No. 18249, Nat. Mus. Canada; obtained on September 21, 1940, by J. Dewey Soper, from 2½ mi. NW Lake Audy, Riding Mtn. Nat'l Park, Manitoba.

Range.—Southwestern Manitoba to central Saskatchewan.

Diagnosis.—Size medium to small for the species; measurements of type and two topotypes are: total length, 107, 108, 117; tail, 45, 45, 45; hind foot, 12.1, 12.3, 12.5. Color dark brownish or fuscous in summer pelage; winter pelage unknown.

Comparison.—Resembles S. v. obscurus in size; darker than obscurus in summer pelage; cranium slightly higher and top more nearly flat; larger and darker in summer pelage than the new subspecies from central Montana.

Remarks.—In their description of this subspecies Anderson and Rand pointed out that specimens from the type locality and from central Saskatchewan represent the dark extreme in a color cline which begins in south-central British Columbia with "pale, brownish-tinged animals." These authors referred shrews from Cypress Hills, southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta to S. o. soperi, although they noted that these specimens, taken by themselves, are not strikingly different from S. o. obscurus from the Rocky Mountains. The specimens from the Cypress Hills were included in soperi because the authors felt that the subspecific boundary should be drawn "where specimens average about half way between the extremes (of the cline) in characters."

It is true, as Anderson and Rand say, that the shrews from Cypress Hills are hardly separable from those from, say, Waterton Lakes Park. The specimens from the Cypress Hills are noticeably different from specimens from the Okanagan area, but some of the latter, in my opinion may represent intergrades between S. v. obscurus and the more reddish S. v. vagrans and are not, at any rate, typical obscurus. In view of the similarity of shrews from Cypress Hills to typical S. v. obscurus and since the Cypress Hills are much nearer to the range of S. v. obscurus than to the record-stations of occurrence in central Saskatchewan and Manitoba, I have chosen to restrict the name soperi to shrews from these latter two localities. Seemingly S. vagrans is absent from the plains separating the Cypress Hills from the Rocky Mountains and from Riding Mountain National Park.

Specimens examined.—none.