COMMON MOLE. 19 
INSECTIVORA. TALPA. 
Fig. b. 
4 4 
Denea tees he) >> 
: 
> SS 
FOSSIL. 
RECENT. 
THE COMMON MOLE. 
Talpa vulgaris. Brisson. 
Since the period when Cuvier first detected parts of the 
fossil skeleton of a Shrew (Sorex) in the osseous breccias 
of Sardinia, the remains of Moles and Hedgehogs have like- 
wise been described in works on Fossil Mammalia, especially 
in those of Schmerling, Schlotheim, the Abbé Croizet, and 
M. de Blainville. 
Remains of the skeletons of the three principal genera of 
Insectivora have been brought under my notice at different 
times from caverns, and the more recent geological forma- 
c 2 
