340 THE INSECTIVORES 



as barely to escape opening upon it, while at other times they are several inches 

 deep. Along the most superficial of these horizontal burrows the earth is actually 

 thrown up in the form of long ridges, by which the animal's progress can be traced. 

 The distance that they can thus travel in a given time is almost incredible. Audu- 

 bon and Bachman state that they have been known, in a single night after a rain, to 

 execute a gallery several yards in length ; and I have myself traced a fresh one 

 nearly one hundred yards. The only method by which we can arrive at a just ap- 

 preciation of the magnitude of this labor is by comparison ; and computation shows 

 that, in order to perform equivalent work, a man would have to excavate in a single 

 night a tunnel thirty-seven miles long, and of sufficient size to easily admit of the 

 passage of his body." 



THE HAIRY-TAILED MOLES 

 Genus Scapanus 



The hairy-tailed moles, of which there are two species inhabiting the United 

 States, form a connecting link between the web-footed and the star-nosed moles, 

 having the general external appearance of the former, but the same number (forty- 

 four) of teeth as in the latter. The habits of the common hairy-tailed mole (S. 

 americanus) appear very similar to those of the web-footed moles ; both inhabiting 

 dry meadow land in preference to the swampy ground affected by the star-nosed 

 mole. The mounds of the hairy-tailed moles do not, however, contain the central 

 and surface opening of those of the web-footed moles ; neither do the former animals 

 indulge in the midday excursions so characteristic of the former. 



THE STAR-NOSED MOLE 

 Genus Condylura 



The last of the three genera of North American moles is represented only by a 

 single species, the star-nosed mole {Condylura cristata), so called on account of the 

 peculiar ring of riband-like appendages surrounding the end of the muzzle, in the 

 middle of which are situated the nostrils. In addition to this feature, this mole is 

 characterized b)^ the tail being nearly as long as the body, and also by the circum- 

 stance that the bones of the terminal joints of the fingers are not cleft at their ex- 

 tremities, as they are in the Old World moles. L,ike the latter, the star-nosed mole 

 possesses the typical number of forty-four teeth. In length this species measures 

 about five inches, exclusive of the tail. 



The food of this mole consists entirely of earthworms and insects, 



and its habits are very similar to those of the web-footed mole, 



although it does not apparently make such extensive excavations, and the hillocks 



thrown up from the runs are of larger size. In gardens and arable land these moles 



tunnel near the surface, throwing up a ridge of loose earth along the line of their 



