THE COMMON MOLE, MOLDWARP OR WANT 5 



as Milne- Edwards's T. longirostris of western China and Tibet, 

 the short-tailed T. mici'-ura of Hodgson from the south-western 

 Himalayas, and T. ^//^?V^ of Nikolski, from the Altais, are little 

 known. In all, except T. eiiropcEa, the eyes are said to be 

 covered by a membrane. 



The genus is unrepresented in Africa, where its place 

 is taken by the golden moles or Chrysochloridce ; and in the 

 new world. In the latter the four allied genera, Scalops, 

 Scapanns, Parascalops, and Condylura (see True, Pi'oc. U.S. 

 Nat. Mus., xix. [No. iioi], 1-112, 1896), have the first upper 

 incisor much larger than the second. Talpa is connected with 

 So7'ex through UrobHchus and Neurotrichus, the mole-shrews 

 of Japan and North America respectively, and through Uro- 

 psiliLS of Tibet, the latter a shrew with a mole's skull. 

 Remains of moles occur in the upper Eocene deposits of 

 Europe {Pi^otalpa), and the genus Talpa itself dates from the 

 Miocene period. 



Other allied genera are : — Scaptochirtis, with forty teeth, of 

 China, Mongolia, Asia Minor, and Syria; Parascaptor of 

 Indo-China to Tibet, and Mogera of Formosa, Japan, and 

 Siberia, each with forty-two teeth ; and the hardly known 

 Dymecodon of Japan (see Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 

 4th February 1908, 51, footnote). 



THE COMMON MOLE, MOLDWARP OR WANT. 



TALPA EUROPE A, Linnjeus. 



1758. Talpa EUROP^a, Carolus Linnaeus, Systeina Naturce, x., 52 ; xii., 733, 1766; 

 and all authors, except as below ; described from Upsala, Sweden. 



1776. Talpa frlsius, P. L. S. Miiller, Natursy stems Supplements und Register Band, 

 Suppl., 36 ; described from Ost-Friesland. 



1777. Talpa europ^a, a albo-maculata, J. C. R. Erxleben, Sy sterna Regni 

 Animalis, i., 117; described from Ost-Friesland. 



1785. Talpa vulgaris, P. Boddaert, Elenchus Amnialium, i., 126; from Brisson, 

 renaming T. europcea. 



1789. Talpa europ^a, /3 variegata, J. F. Gmelin, Sy sterna Naiurce, i., ed. xiii., 

 1 10 ; based on a colour-variety. 



1789. Talpa europ^a, 7 alba, J. F. Gmelin, loc. cit.j based on a white variety. 



1792. Talpa europ.'EA nigra, Robert Kerr, Animal Kingdom, 200; apparently 

 renaming T. europcea. 



