Sorex vagrans monticola, Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 10:69, December 31, 1895.
Sorex melanogenys Hall, Jour. Mamm., 13:260, August 9, 1932, type from Marijilda Canyon, 8600 ft., Graham Mts. [= Pinaleno Mts.] Graham Co., Arizona.
Type.—Adult male, skin and skull; No. 17599/24535, U. S. Biol. Surv. Coll.; obtained on August 28, 1899, by C. Hart Merriam and Vernon Bailey from San Francisco Mtn., 11,500 ft., Coconino Co., Arizona.
Range.—Mountains of western New Mexico, eastern Arizona, and the northern Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico.
Diagnosis.—Size small for the species; average and extreme measurements of 12 specimens from the White Mountains, Arizona, are: total length, 104.3 (98-112); tail, 41.2 (37-45); hind foot, 12.0 (11-13). Summer pelage between (15´m) Proutts Brown and (15´´m) Bister, venter tinged with (15´f) Pale Ochraceous Buff; winter pelage near (17´´´k) Olive Brown; skull relatively broad.
Comparisons.—For comparisons with S. v. obscurus and S. v. neomexicanus see accounts of those subspecies. Skull slightly larger and relatively broader than that of S. v. orizabae, and color slightly paler. Differs from S. v. vagrans in: winter pelage grayish (near 17´´´k Olive Brown) rather than blackish (17´´´´k or 17´´´´m Chaetura Drab or Chaetura Black); summer pelage slightly grayer; skull relatively slightly broader rostrally and interorbitally.
Remarks.—S. v. monticola intergrades gradually with S. v. obscurus to the north and east; indeed the type locality is actually in this area of intergradation. So far as I know, monticola is not in reproductive continuity with any other subspecies of Sorex vagrans. Specimens from southeastern Arizona are the smallest and seem to be the most "typical" in the sense that they are most different from S. v. obscurus. Some specimens from the whole length of the Rocky Mountain chain in the United States have for years been referred to monticola. Some of these, as I have pointed out, belong to S. v. longiquus, and others are intergrades between S. v. obscurus and S. v. vagrans. Since vagrans and monticola resemble one another somewhat, and since topotypes of S. v. monticola actually show the influence of intergradation with obscurus, it is easy to understand how intergrades between obscurus and vagrans could have been assigned to monticola.
Throughout most of its range, S. v. monticola is the only Sorex present. In some places monticola may occur with S. nanus or S. merriami. S. v. monticola occurs with the water shrew in southeastern Arizona.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 80.
Arizona: Coconino Co.: San Francisco Mtn., 3 BS, 6 CMNH. Apache Co.: Spruce Creek, Tunitcha Mts., 7 BS; Springerville, 1 BS; North Fork White River, White Mts., 12 SD; White River, Horseshoe Cienega, 8300 ft., White Mts., 5 BS; Mt. Thomas, 9500 to 11,000 ft., White Mts., 12 BS; Little Colorado River, White Mts., 4 BS; near head Burro Creek, 9000 ft., White Mts., 1 BS. Graham Co.: Graham Mts., 9200 ft., 2 BS. Greenlee Co.: Prieto Plateau, 9000 ft., S. end Blue Range, 1 BS. Pima Co.: Summerhaven, 7500 ft., Santa Catalina Mts., 3 BS, 1 SD. Cochise Co.: Fly Park, Chiricahua Mts., 4 BS; Rustler Park, Chiricahua Mts., 1 SD; Long Park, Chiricahua Mts., 1 UM; Huachuca Mts., 1 BS. Santa Cruz Co.: Stone Cabin Canyon, 8500 ft., Santa Rita Mts., 1 BS.