INSECTIVORA: TALPID.E. 



81 



The Common Shrew- Fi 



Mole, vS. aquaticus, Cuv., 

 of the United States 

 east of the Mississippi, is 

 four to five inches long 

 to the tail, dark plum- Common MO:C ' * *"'. Cuv - 



beous, the feet and tail white. The teeth are thirty-six in 

 number, nostrils superior, palms broader than long, tail 

 nearly naked, and feet fully webbed. Its eyes are so small 

 and completely hidden by the fur, that the casual ob- 

 server readily supposes it to be blind. In fact, the aper- 

 ture for the eye is only about the diameter of a human 

 hair, and the eye-balls are smaller than a grain of mus- 

 tard-seed. It inhabits both dry and wet lands, burrow- 

 ing in every direction at a little depth beneath the sur- 

 face, and throwing up at intervals the little hills of loose 

 earth so familiar to every observer. It burrows with 

 great rapidity, moves swiftly through its winding and 

 complicated galleries, and its strength is wonderful. It 

 is a remarkable fact, certified by good authority,' that 

 these animals come to the surface daily at twelve o'clock. 



The Silver or Prairie Mole, 5. argentatus, Aud. & 

 Bach., of the Western States and southward, is somewhat 

 larger than the last, palms scarcely broader than long, 

 tail nearly naked, and the color silvery plumbeous. 



The Oregon Mole, 5. Townsendii, Bach., of the Pacific 

 coast of North America, is six inches long, nearly black, 

 nostrils superior on the tip of the snout, teeth forty-four, 

 and the tail scantily haired. 



The Hairy-tailed Mole, S. Breweri, Bach., of New Eng- 

 land to Ohio, is about five inches long from the nose to 

 the root of the tail, dark plumbeous, glossed with ashy 

 brown, the ear opening rather large, nostrils lateral, 

 palms rather narrow, teeth forty-four, and tail densely 

 hairy. 



