THE MAMMALS OF NEW JERSEY. 91 



plants or vegetables and opening up passages where pine mice 

 and other injurious mammals may follow. 



Mr. Wilson concludes solely on the basis of food that the mole 

 is beneficial to the farmer, but Mr. Rhoads points out that it is 

 unfair to class the earthworm as injurious since it has been 

 shown to be a most important factor in increasing the arable 

 quality of soil. And as the destroyer of countless earthworms 

 we can make out a strong case against the mole, irrespective of 

 the damage directly or indirectly due to his surface tunnels. On 

 his behalf, however, we can urge the benefit of his burrows in im- 

 proving the soil on somewhat the same ground as those of the 

 earthworm. 



The naked-tailed mole occurs throughout the State, but is most 

 plentiful in open, cultivated country. It seems to be rare in the 

 sandy pine barrens, though Mr. Rhoads states that he has seen 

 its burrows there also. 



Scalops aquaticus Abbott, Cook's Geol. of N. J., 1868, p. 752. 

 — Abbott, A Naturalist's Rambles, 1885, p. 448. — Rhoads, Proc. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1867, p. 32. — Rhoads, Mam. Pa. and N. 

 J.. 1903, p. 198. 



Genus Parascalops True. 

 Hairy -Tailed Moles. 



Parascalops breweri (Bachman). 



Brewer's Mole. 



Plate 40, Fig. 2. 



Length 5.80 inches. Dark gray, tail blackish and thickly 

 haired, rather longer than that of the preceding species, nose and 

 hands similar. This is a northern species occurring southward 

 through the Alleghanies. There is only one record of its occur- 

 rence in the State — a specimen in the collection of the Philadel- 

 phia Academy, labeled "New Jersey, Edward Harris." It will, 

 no doubt, be found to occur in the mountains of Sussex, Warren 

 and Passaic counties. 



