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ADDI TIONAL OBSERVATIONS.
H a s l a u H o s p i t a l , G o s p o r t ,
Fehi-uary, 1839.
The progress of science during the years that the Zoology of Captain
Beechey’s Voyage has lain unpublished, requires some amendments to be
made in the preceding list of Mammalia inhabiting the north-west coast of
America, and enables us to add a few species.
3 . S oR EX PARVUS.
The Shrews of America have not u n til recently been examined and named by competent au th o rity , and
the specific name o f p a r vu s in pa rticu la r has been applied to various small species whose d im in u tiv e size is
the principal point o f their agreement with each other. This is in fact the case with the indiv id u a l mentioned
in the text as having been killed by Mr. Collie, in Behring’s S tra its:— it accorded tolerably with Say’s short
description, and want o f authentic specimens for comparison prevented us from giving it another appellation,
or o f applying tha t o f parvus with confidence. An excellent pape r in the Jo u rn a l o f the Academy of S ciences
o f Philade lphia , for 1837, b y the Rev. D r. Bachman, raises the n umbe r o f N orth American shrews to thirteen,
and contains correct descriptions o f no fewer than ten which came u n d e r the author’s personal observation.
I t is to be regretted tha t Say’s So re x p arvus has not been identified by the U n ited States’ na tura lists since its
first disocvery, so that its detailed characters, its range, and its identity with the Behrings’ S tra it animal
remain to be made out. The Sorex p arvus o f the F a u n a Boreali-Americana has been named S . Richardsonii
by Dr. Bachman. The original specimen is in the Zoological Museum.
4 . S c a l o p s C a n a d e n s i s .
The Rev. D r. Bachman informs me tha t he has materials for the description o f a t least three scalopes
which differ in the ir dentition, an d will enable him to clear u p the decrepancies to be found in authors who
have included all in one species.
11 . M e l e s l a b r a d o r ia .
Two skins o f a badger brought from the parts o f California, bordering on Mexico, were compared by
Mr. Bennett with the specimen from the plains o f the Saskatchawan, described and figured in F a u n a B oreali