E toby 
XXVIII. Description of a nondescript Species of the Genus 
Condylura. By T. W. Harris, M.D.* 
"THE genus Condylura was constructed by Illiger for the 
reception of the Sorex cristatus of Linnzeus, the Radiated 
Mole of Pennant. 
This name, derived from xovSvaos a knot, and ovey the tail, 
is essentially bad, as it is founded on an exaggerated or cari- 
catured representation of the tail of the animal, and on a 
structure which does not exist, in the slightest degree, in the 
species to be here described. Desmarest, who has amended 
the characters of the genus, did not think it expedient to 
change the name, and thus embarrass nomenclature with a 
new synonym. 
Cuvier, in the Regne Animal, has suppressed the genus Con- 
dylura, being confident, he says, from an inspection of the 
teeth, that the radiated mole is a Talpa and not a Sorex. Des- 
marest + thinks that Cuvier must have examined, by mistake, 
the denuded‘head of a true Talpa, instead of that of the Con- 
dylura. He observes that a specimen of this animal, sent by 
Le Seuer from Philadelphia, presents characters peculiar to 
itself; that it cannot be united either with the Tulpe or Sorices, 
but holds an intermediate rank between these two tribes or 
families. In its form and habits it has an affinity to the for- 
mer, while its teeth closely resemble those of the latter. It is 
arranged in the family Soriciz and genus Scalops by the author 
of the article Mazoxoey, in Brewster’s Encyclopedia. 
The Sorex cristatus, with another animal of the same genus 
recently detected in Maine, might with propriety constitute a 
new family with the following characters. 
Upper and lower jaw each with twenty teeth; four incisors 
only in the lower jaw; nostrils carunculated; tail scaly, of 
moderate length; feet with five claws, the anterior ones broad, 
and formed for digging in the earth; the hind feet elongated, 
slender; eyes minute; and no external ears ts 
* FromWebster & Treadwell’s Boston Journal of Philosophy, vel.ii. p.580. 
t See article Taure; Nouveau Dictionnaire @ Histoire Naturelle, tom. xxxii. 
Paris, 1819. 
ft The essential characters of the Shrew-mice or Sorices, are six or eight 
cutting tecth in each jaw, the intermediate ones the longest; tail and exter- 
nal ears sometimes wanting, 
The family of the Moles, or Talpa, is characterized by having twenty-two 
teeth in each jaw; six incisors in the upper and eight in the lower jaw, 
equal to each other; no external ears; tail very short; eyes and feet as in 
the Condylure. 
The 
