Sorex cinereus Kerr, 1792 . Animal Kingdom, p. 206.

TYPE LOCALITY: Canada, Ontario, Fort Severn .

DISTRIBUTION: North America throughout Alaska and Canada and southward along the Rocky and Appalachian Mtns to 45°.

SYNONYMS: acadicus, cooperi, fimbripes, fontinalis, forsteri, hollisteri, idahoensis, frankstounensis, lesueurii, miscix, nigriculus, ohionensis, personatus, platyrhinus, streatori.

COMMENTS: Type species of subgenus Otisorex . Does not occur in Siberia as previously suggested; the taxa haydeni, jacksoni, ugyunak, portenkoi, leucogaster, beringianus and camtschatica have been included previously but are now considered as separate species; see comments under these taxa and Junge and Hoffmann (1981, and references cited therein), van Zyll de Jong (1982, 1991b), van Zyll de Jong and Kirkland (1989), and Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987). S. fontinalis was separated from cinereus by Kirkland (1977), Junge and Hoffmann (1981), and Jones et al. (1992), but is considered, together with lesueurii, as a subspecies (van Zyli de Jong and Kirkland, 1989). However, George's (1988) data indicate it is a sister taxon to both cinereus and haydeni .