se a 
Counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine. 49 
as broad ; eyelids open ; fur greyish black, somewhat tinged with brown 
beneath. 
The mole of Aberdeenshire is the same as that of the south of Scot- 
land, as well as of England. In all the prepared skulls and recent spe- 
cimens of British moles that I have examined, the incisor teeth of the 
upper jaw are unequal in size, the outermost tooth on each side being a 
third shorter than the innermost or central, and not generally much more 
than half its breadth. Now, the characters of “upper incisors nearly 
equal,” has been assumed as the peculiar distinction between Talpa cu- 
ropea and Talpa ceca, which latter has been characterized as having the 
middle incisors larger than the outer. But Talpa ceca is said to have 
the eyes covered by the skin, which is not the case with ours. Were 
the descriptions of authors correct, our mole would be different from 
either ; but, as it is, I have reason to think, after an extended compari- 
son, that our Scottish and English mole is nothing else than Talpa euro- 
pzea, or, at least, what has been described as such by all British writers. 
Although I have prepared a very minute description of the animal, as 
it occurs with us, I therefore do not think it necessary, on the present 
occasion, to enter into details respecting the teeth, which are, 
Incisors 3, canine teeth 3, anterior molars 4, molars 3=3}4=22—44. 
The fur, or pile, is uniform, very fine, soft, without long hairs, unless 
on the tail, and a few short and very delicate bristles on the snout. The 
general colour is blackish-grey, viewed against the pile bluish-grey and 
glossy, the lower parts paler, the lower jaw reddish-brown, the fore- 
neck and fore part of the thorax, and sometimes the shoulders, slightly 
tinged with the same colour; the hairs of the tail black. The snout 
flesh-coloured, inclining to pink; the bare parts of the feet pale flesh- 
coloured, as are the claws. Eyes blackish-grey. 
In a male and a female, the cesophagus in length 23, 24 inches; the 
stomach yery large, with very thin parietes, and internally villous, of 
an oblong form, much curved, in its greatest diameter 22, 23, in breadth 
13, 1}, its outer curve 54, 5; the esophagus enters about the middle, 
and the pyloric end gradually tapers into the intestine, which measures 
in length 71, 61, and varies from three-twelfths to one-twelfth in diame- 
ter; the colon not enlarged, nor is there any ccecum. 
The young are from three to five. In an individual killed on the 31st 
of May, I found three fetuses, about half size. It appears that several 
broods are reared in the season, for young ones have been found in 
autumn. 
The mole changes its fur in May and June. The new pile is at first 
remarkably glossy, and on the thorax more tinged with brown than 
afterwards. One obtained on the 30th May 1843, had completed its 
moult; another procured alive on the 3d of June, had only begun to 
shed its pile. With us there is little variation in the tints of the fur ; 
although shades of black or grey may be met with, and a white or 
eream-coloured individual is sometimes seen, 
MALE. FEMALE. FEMALE. 
In, im, I, in; J. 
Entire length, .-. . . . 7 6 6 10 6 5 
Length of head, cee Bali 1 8 1 8 
Length of tail, . aaa eect: (() 011 iil 
Length of forefoot, . . . 0 9 0 104 0 9 
Length of hind foot, . 0 9 Q 9% 0 82 
It is generally distributed with us, being, as usual, most abundant 
VOL. XXXVII. NO. LXXV.—JAN. 1845. D 
