338 JAMES ROLLIN SLONAKER 
appear flattened. The color of the basal portion is due to alter- 
nate black and translucent bands. The apex is broader, lanceo- 
late in shape, and contains a core of brownish-orange coloring 
matter. 
Owen (’66) gives the following description: 
. . the stem of the hair is filamentary, the end broad and flat, 
and the slender and expanded parts may alternate twice or oftener in 
the course of the hair, enabling the whole fur to assume any direction 
in which it may be stroked. 
A more detailed. description is given by Jackson. (15), as 
follows: 
The hair of all American moles is fine and silky, producing a soft 
and velvetlike pelage. In Scalopus, Scapanus, and Parascalops the 
hairs are nearly equal in length and there is no distinct underfur. In 
Condylura some of the hairs are distinctly longer and coarser than the 
major portion, the latter forming an underfur, and the whole producing 
a pelage much less velvetlike than that of any other genus. In Neiiro- 
‘trichus the condition of the pelage is somewhat as in Condylura; the 
fur is shorter, however, and the underfur difficult to detect. 
The basal pelage reveals a series of transverse vermiculations, most 
pronounced in Sealopus and Scapanus, least in Neiirotrichus; in all 
genera these markings are more noticeable in the fur on the back, less 
on the ventral parts. Microscopic examination shows that these 
vermiculations are due to structural as well as chromatic differences. 
Each hair consists of normally pigmented, gray, cylindrical sections, 
1 to 2 mm. long, alternated with finer flat sections, 0.2 to 0.6 mm. 
long and unpigmented, or with the pigment reduced to a small amount 
of yellow. Each one of these fine, flat sections acts as a hinge upon 
which the hair bends; this in part produces the velvetlike texture of 
the pelage and permits the hair to be rubbed either forward or back- 
ward with little friction—a distinct advantage to a subterranean 
mammal. 
de Meijere (’94) mentions the fact that in Talpa the tail and ~ 
the back of the hands and feet are covered with thin horny scales. 
Behind each of the scales on the tail there are located from four 
to six hairs, arranged in a fairly definite manner. He further 
says that in the embryo the arrangement of the hairs is quite 
distinct, but in the adult this arrangement is almost lost. 
Reh (’95) says that the scales on the tail of Secalops are ar- 
ranged in rings. Behind each of the scales there are about four 
