96 RE VISION OF A MEBICAN MOLES— TR UE. vol. xix. 



"long-tailed mole" also appears in this edition. ^ It shows little more 

 than a trace of the nasal crest, and were it not for the phrase "mole 

 with a radiated nose" in the description, one might snppose that it had 

 no relation to C. cristata^ as Erxleben seems to have done. It is to be 

 remarked regarding both these figures that the tail is abnormally short. 

 One can only supi)ose that they were based on young specimens, over- 

 stretched as regards the body, or tliat the tail was drawn in in skinning, 

 and not afterwards restored to its proper position. 



Gmelin, in the thirteenth edition of Liunteus's SystemaNaturte, recog- 

 nizes both ^' Sore.v cristatus''^ and '-'■Talpa Joiu/icaudata.'^'^ His descrip- 

 tions do not differ materially from those of Erxleben. 



Kerr, writing in 1792,^ seems to have entertained the idea that the 

 two species were related, as he places loiujicaudata immediately after 

 cristaia in the genus Talpa. Ue adds nothing, however, to Pennant's 

 account. 



Shaw retains the two nominal species among the moles in his General 

 Zoology,^ but remarks under the "Endiated Mole:" "It is, perhaps, in 

 reality no other than a variety of the former species, or a sexual differ- 

 ence." 



The star-nosed mole was placed in its present genus, Condylnra, by 

 Illiger, in 1811.^ As si)ecies he has " Sorex cristaia Linn,, Talpa loniji- 

 caudata Linn. Gmel." 



Cuvier recognizes only the species cristafus in the Eegne Animal, 

 but places it under the genus Talpa, and remarks that it is a true mole 

 and that the characters on which Illiger based the genus Condylura 

 are false. ^ 



This course was not acceptable to Desmarest, who revived the genus 

 Condylura and recognized the same species as Illiger, C. eristata and 

 longicaudata.'' Dr. Harlan, in 1825, accepted this arrangement and 

 added a third species, C. macroura, from a specimen in the Philadelphia 

 Museum (Xo. 8;:0), which had the tail in the swollen state. l)r. Harris 

 described another specimen in this condition the same year, under the 

 name of Condylura prasinata. 



Godman was of the opinion that this swelling of tlie tail was not a 

 specific character, and in his Natural History, of which the first edition 

 appeared in 1820, recognized only C. eristata. 



All four species were enumerated by AVagner again in 1841, in 

 Schreber's Saligethiere, but in an appendix he calls attention to God- 

 man's view. 



In the great work of Audubon and Bachmau only the single Linufeau 



'History of Quadrupeds, 3d ed., II, 1783, p. 232, pi. 90, fig. 2. 



21, 1788, i)p. 118 and 121. 



^The Aiiiuial Kingdom of Liun:eus, 1792, p. 202. 



-•I, pt. 2, 1800, p. 523. 



^Prodroiuus systeniatis mammaliuin et avium, 1811, p. 125. 



cRejrno Animal, Isted., I, 1817, p. 138. 



'Mamiiialogie, I, 1820, pp. 157-158. 



