HEDGE-HOGS, MOLES. 347 



genera or sub-genera, Mysarachne and Plesiosorex,* have also been 

 indicated (Miocene). 



The hedge-hogs comprise two genera, Gymnura and Erinaceus 

 (the hedge-hog proper) the former of which inhabits the Malay 

 Peninsula and some of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and 

 the latter, with about nineteen species, the greater part of Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa, although wanting in Madagascar, Ceylon, Bur- 

 mah, Siam, the Malay Peninsula, and the Archipelago. The range 

 of the common European species, Erinaceus Europseus, extends 

 from Ireland and the Shetland Isles (possibly introduced) to East- 

 ern China, and from the sixty-third parallel of latitude in the 

 Scandinavian Peninsula to Southern Italy, Asia Minor, and Syria, 

 ascending the Alps and Caucasus to elevations of 6,000 and 

 8,000 feet respectively. In view of this very remarkable range, 

 its absence from the New World is not a little surprising. Re- 

 mains of several species of hedge-hog have been found in the 

 Miocene deposits of France and Germany, but none of the recent 

 species, except E. Europseus, which forms part of the Quaternary 

 cave fauna, are known as fossils. The genus Neurogymnurus, 

 which is probably closely related to Gymuura, is represented by a 

 single species (G. Cayluxi) in the French Eocene. 



The moles are generically the most numerous of the Insectivora, 

 although the number of species is comparatively limited. The 

 greater number of the ten or twelve recognised genera are repre- 

 sented by but one or two species. The family belongs almost ex- 

 clusively to the Holarctic region, through which it is very generally 

 distributed, only a very limited number of species passing beyond 

 the confines of that region into the Oriental tract. The moles 

 proper (Talpa), with about four species, are found throughout 

 nearly the whole of the Eurasiatic tract, the range of the common 

 species, Talpa Europaea, extending from Britain to Japan, and 

 from Scandinavia and Siberia to Italy and the southern slopes of the 

 Himalayas. The water-moles (Myogale) are comprised in two spe- 

 cies, one of which, M. Pyrenaica, inhabits the northern valleys of 

 the Pyrenees, and the other, M. Muscovitica, the region of the 

 Don and Volga rivers. The American moles belong in principal 

 part to three genera: Condylura (the star-nosed mole, which in- 



* Eeferrecl by Trouessart to the Talpidse (" Catalogue Mamm. Viv. et 

 Foss.," 1881). 



