MAMMALS TALPIDAE SCALOPS BREWER], 



69 



General dimensions. 



Description from a specimen in alcohol (No. 2205). The body, though thick and clumsy, is 

 rather more slender than in S. aquaticus. The head is rather pointed and elongated, owing to 

 the great development of the muzzle. This projects about .35 of an inch beyond the incisors, 

 or rather more than the distance from the incisors to the angle of the mouth. It is much 

 depressed, and tapers to a rounded truncate tip. It is almost entirely naked above, and lat 

 erally almost as far back as the end of the nasal bones, and beneath to the incisors ; a few scat 

 tered hairs only are visible. There is a broad groove on the underside, from incisors to the 

 bulb or glans of the nose ; this is terminal and smooth, the remainder of the muzzle is 

 wrinkled and corrugated ; these corrugations on the under side are arranged in parallel lines, 

 running a little backward on each side from the central furrow. The nostrils open on the sides 

 of the terminal bulb, a little obliquely, so as to be slightly visible from above, but not from 

 beneath. Its shape is crescentic, the concavity superior. 



The eye is excessively minute, and covered with skin ; it is situated a little posterior to the 

 angle of the mouth, and about midway between the tip of the snout and the occiput. 



There is no external ear ; the meatus is an oval cavity, about one-twelfth of an inch in 

 diameter, situated just above the insertion of the arm. 



The palms are about as broad as long, exclusive of the claws, which are long and fossorial, 

 much larger than those on the hind feet. The third is longest, the second about the same size, 

 but not projecting so far ; the fourth a little smaller and shorter, the first larger than the fifth. 

 The hind foot is about as long as the fore, much narrower and weaker, however ; the relative 

 proportions of the toes and claws much as in the fore feet. The under surfaces of all the feet 

 are perfectly smooth ; the upper with scanty hairs ; the posterior and lateral margin of the 

 palm is provided with a cileated border of short hairs. 



The tail is thick and blunt at the end, entirely and densely covered with bristly hairs, about 

 .15 of an inch long ; it is slightly constricted at the base, and with the hairs about as long as 

 the head. 



The longest hairs on the back measure about .35 of an inch, and a little less beneath. 



The colors of two specimens in alcohol are much as in the dry skins described, except that 

 there is no white anywhere. Both appear to be of rather immature age, as shown by the 



