SCAI'AXIS AMERICAXUS. 163 



Prof. Baird was the first to add the Hairy-tailed Mole to the fauna 

 of New York State. In the Report of the Regents on the Condition 

 of the State Cabinet of Natural History, 1862, he says: "This 

 species of Mole, although not mentioned by DeKay in the State 

 Natural History, is in reality very abundantly to be met with in the 

 northern part of the State, and apparently to the exclusion of the 

 more southern species with white naked tail, S. aquatic us. Its bur- 

 rows are very different from those of the latter species ; being at a 

 considerable distance beneath the surface, with heaps of loose earth 

 thrown up at intervals over the gallery, without any kind of entrance 

 whatever." 



Dr. Harlan thus described the habits of this species, which he 

 supposed identical with the common mole of Europe : u Subterrane- 

 ous, affecting light and cultivated soils ; changing locality according 

 to atmospherical variations ; seeking elevated regions during the 

 rainy seasons ; excavating long galleries which all communicate with 

 each other, parallel to the surface of the soil, and at moderate depths ; 

 elevating the earth into what are denominated mole-hills ; excavating 



^^ ^5 



with their hands, and raising the earth with their head ; feeding on 



o 



worms, insects, roots, bulbs of colchicum, &c.; entering in rut early 

 in the spring, and bringing forth twice annually, four or five at a 

 birth, between the months of March and August ; raising their young 

 with the greatest tenderness ; forming their nests of leaves, in a 

 spacious chamber, the vault of which is supported by pillars, and 

 which is situated in a manner to be sheltered from inundations." f 



But it must be remembered that Dr Harlan confounded this 

 animal with the European Mole (Talpa Europcea), and it is possible 

 that the above is in part compiled from accounts of that species. 



* Fifteenth Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York, on the 

 Condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History, 1862, p. 13. 



\ Fauna Americana, 1825, p. 44. 



