C82 CLASS XVII. 



Sp. Mus talp'inus Pall. Olir. Tab. xi. a. Comp. Wagner in Schreb. 

 Sdugth., Swpplementland, 3te Abth. pp. 362, 364, and the authors there 

 cited. 



Sjjolax Guldenstaedt', Illig., Cuv. Incisors very large, 



3-3 



exsert, molars ^ , complex, small, tlie first larger than the rest. 



3 — o 



Head broad, flat above, truncate anteriorly. Eyes very small, hid- 

 den under the hairy skin. Ears none. Feet short, with claws 

 small. Fur soft. Tail none. 



Sp. Spalax typlilus, Mus typJihis Pall. GUr. Tab. viii. (copied in Schreb, 

 Sdugth. Tab. 206); Gder. Iconogr., Mammif. PI. I'j, fig. 2; the zemni 

 {slepez is the Russian name); 8" big, lives underground like a mole, and 

 bites round about powerfully : one who has pressed this animal in his hand 

 till it dies, and has been bitten by it, has acquired (according to popular 

 belief in the Uki-aine) the wonderful power of curing the goitre by laying 

 on his hands ^, This animal is found in Southern Russia from the Wolga 

 to the borders of Poland and in Hungary. 



According to the investigations of Kessler the supposed larger species, 

 noticed by Pallas, of 10 to 11 inches, and which has no lateral folds 

 on the crowns of the molars {OmmatostergusPaUasii NoEDMANN, Ketserl. 

 u. Blasius WirheUJiiere Europa's, s. vii. 11, 31, figured in the work of 

 Demidofp and copied by Krauss, op. cit. PI. 20, fig.i) is merely a variety 

 depending on age. Bullet, de la Soc. imp. de Moscou, xxiv. 185 1, p. 127. 



Siplmeus Brants (spec, of Georychus Illig. and Cuv.). Eyes 

 very small, conspicuous. Fore feet with claws of three middle toes 

 compressed, incurved, large, that of the third toe particularly long. 

 Tail short. (Other characters of the preceding genus.) 



Sp. SipMeus Aspalax, Mus Aspalax Pall. GUr. Tab. x. copied in Schreb. 

 Saufjth. Tab. 205), Keauss 1. 1. Tab. 20, fig. 6 ; the Zokor, Siberia. 



Bathyergus Illig., Orycterus F. Cuv. Incisors very large, 



4-4 



exsert, upper indented by a longitudinal groove; molars ^^3^? 



complex, bipartite from a transverse streak of enamel ; crown of 

 worn teeth flat, surrounded by a single circle of enamel. Eyes 

 small. Ears none. Fore feet with large, fossorial claws, the claw 



1 Novi comment. Acad. Petrop. xiv. P. i, p. 409. 



2 " Itaqxie dccantaia virtus Regum Gallice apud Ukranos admodum dbvia et vilis est 

 nee spero minus efficax, si quid imaginaiionis vires in istos morbos valent." Pall. Ghr. 

 p. 158. 



