_Sorex vagrans vancouverensis_, Jackson, N. Amer. Fauna, 51:106, July, 1928. _Type._--Adult male, skin and skull; No. 71913, U. S. Biol. Surv. Coll.; obtained on May 10, 1895, by Clark P. Streator, from Goldstream, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. _Range._--Vancouver Island from Sayward south, and Bowen Island. _Diagnosis._--Size small for the species; average and extreme measurements of 6 specimens from Alberni Valley, Vancouver Island, are: total length, 106.5 (97-115); tail, 41.7 (40-43); hind foot, 12 (11-13) (Jackson, 1928:107). Ventral parts brownish, winter pelage reddish brown rather than grayish. _Comparisons._--Differs from _S. v. vagrans_ in more brownish ventral parts and more brownish, rather than grayish, winter pelage; differs from the sympatric _S. v. isolatus_ in shorter tail, shorter hind foot, more narrow skull, and smaller teeth. _Remarks._--This is a poorly differentiated subspecies which is closely related to _S. v. vagrans_. The differences in color noted are average ones. Some individuals of this shrew might be difficult to separate from _S. v. isolatus_. The slight degree of morphological divergence is such that intergrades might be expected to occur. Possibly some habitat separation occurs, but such has not been reported. _Specimens examined._--Total number, 3. BRITISH COLUMBIA: Vancouver Island: Mt. Washington, 1 KU; Nanaimo, 1 BS; type locality, 1 BS. _Marginal records._--BRITISH COLUMBIA: Sayward (Anderson, 1947:18); Bowen Island (Hall, 1938:463); Alberni (Jackson, 1928:107). CONCLUSIONS 1. _Sorex vagrans_, _S. obscurus_, _S. pacificus_, and _S. yaquinae_ are conspecific with one another. Each is a valid subspecies but all should bear the specific name _Sorex vagrans_ Baird, 1858. 2. The subspecies of _Sorex vagrans_ form a cline from large (_pacificus_) to small (_vagrans_). The cline is bent in such a manner that the terminal subspecies occur together. Where the two subspecies occur together, individuals of one subspecies do not crossbreed with individuals of the other subspecies and therefore react toward one another as do full species. _Sorex vagrans vagrans_ occurs sympatrically with _S. v. sonomae_, _S. v. pacificus_, _S. v. yaquinae_, _S. v. bairdi_, _S. v. permiliensis_, and _S. v. setosus_. _S. v. vancouverensis_ occurs sympatrically with _S. v. isolatus_. 3. The sympatric existence of the terminal subspecies of the _Sorex vagrans_ rassenkreis is made possible by marked differences between them in size and in ecological preference. 4. The west-coast subspecies, _sonomae_, _pacificus_, _yaquinae_, _bairdi_, and _permiliensis_ probably differentiated from the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain subspecies, _vagrans_, _obscurus_ and _monticola_, during a separation caused first by aridity in the Great Basin, and secondly by glaciation of the Cascade Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, possibly in the Sangamonian and Wisconsinan ages respectively.