32 REVISION OF AMERICAN MOLES— TRUE. 



of Talpa sericea, but this is quite surely the youug of the preceding.' 

 The ScaIo2)s aryentatus of Audubon and Bachnian- was described from 

 a specimen from Erie County, Ohio. The diagnosis giveu is as fol- 

 lows : 



S. Pilis tota lous^itudine albo phimboqvie annulatis, froiite mentique albido fla- 

 vescente. 



The aunulation here spoken of I believe to be merely that produced 

 by the regular orenulation of the hairs. The light striking on these 

 crenulations produces the eftect of alternate whitish and lead colored 

 rings. This appearance is not more marked in specimens from Ohio 

 than in others. I have never seen any in which there was even an 

 approximation to a truly ringed coloration of the hairs. 



As for the color of the forehead and chin mentioned in the diagnosis, 

 it is characteristic of the species as a whole. 



In the description of this form the authors refer to its unusually 

 laro-e size, in which they were correct, but their remark that the fur 

 "differs strikingly in color and luster" from that of the common mole, 

 will not bear the test of actual comparison. 



The characters which I have given on a preceding page (p. 20) are 

 the only ones which are at all constant, and as these are relative and 

 grade into those of the typical Atlantic Coast form, I follow Dr. Coues^ 

 in I educing the species to a subspecies. I make it a synonym of Sealops 

 aquaticus inachrinns ( Rafinesque). 



It may be remarked that the figure given in Audubon's folio Quad- 



iRafinesque's description of these two forms in the rare periodical called the 

 Atlantic Journal is as follows: 



" In 1820 I discovered two new moles in Kentucky ; one is rather common, and the 

 substitute of the common mole in the gardens. I call it tiilpa machrina. The other, 

 talpa sericea. is rather scarce. A specimen was in Cliftbrd's museum. 



"1. Talpa machrina, Raf. 1820.— Long-nose mole. Fur thick, l)rown with grayish 

 shades- nose elongate, depressed, naked, and tuberculate; tail one-sixth of whole 

 length white, squared, naked ; feet white. 



"Total length 7 inches; tail li, but only three-fourths out of the fur. Body 

 thick, covered with soft silky fur one-half inch long, shorter and woolly on the head; 

 nose almost like a probocis, one-half inch longer than the lower jaw, moveable, 

 1)a8e white villose, and naked ru))icund; feet naked, the anterior broad, rounded 

 flat, with 5 toes thick and suV)palmato or coherent, 5 claws nearly equal, large, ! 

 convex above, flat l)eneath; posterior feet more slender, claws smaller, longer, and 

 narrow. In woods, gardens, and fields, near Lexington, etc. Raises flesuofee bur- 

 rows of great length. 



"Talpa sericea, Raf. 1820.— Silky mole. Fur short, silky, gray, with silvery 

 shades; nose short, obtuse; tail one-fifth of whole length, cylindrical. 



" Smaller than the first and more slender, only 5 inches long, body 4, and tail 1. 

 Fur very peculiar, and ditierent from other moles, not being reducible to difierent 

 directions, but imbricate as in other quadrupeds; remainder as in the first sp. 

 Found in woods near Nicholasville and Harrodsburg." (Atlantic .Journal, 1832, 



p. 61.) 



2 Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., VIII, pt. 2, 1842, p. 292 (original description.). 

 3 Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey, 1877, p. 633. 



