SORECIDJE. 



SORECID.E. 



IM 



twenty feet in length. Its principal food U alleged to consist 

 of Bb. leeches, and the larva- of water-insects ; but frapnu-nU of roots 

 hare been found in iU stomach, lu pace ia slow ; but it does not 

 earn to be torpid ia winter, at which season it is often taken in nets. 

 The holes which it makes in cliffs and banks have the entrance far 

 beneath the lowest level of the water, and the animal works upwards, 

 never however reaching the surface, but only sufficiently high to 

 secure itaelf from the highest rise of the river. Fish, as we have seen, 

 forma part of its food ; but the quadruped in its turn falls a victim to 

 the Pikes and AWiiri, whose flesh becomes so impregnated with tho 

 flavour of musk in consequence, as to be not eatable. 



From the region about the tail a sort of musk, resembling the 

 genuine sort, ia expressed ; and the skins are put into chests and 

 wardrobes among clothe*, for the purpose of preserving them from 

 moths. Those skins were also supposed to guard tho wearers of them 

 from fevers and pestilence. The price at Orenberp for the skins and 

 tails was formerly twenty copecs per hundred. They were so com- 

 mon near Nischnei-Xovgorod, that the peasants were wont to bring 

 five hundred each to market, where they sold a hundred of them for 

 a rouble. 



There is a species more than eight inches in length (.I/. Pyrcuaica) 

 inhabiting Tarbes, at the foot of the Pyrenees. 



Scalopt. Muzzle pointed and cartilaginous ; no external ears. 

 Three toes on the anterior feet, which are short, wide, and armed 

 with strong claws fit for burrowing; posterior feet feeble, with five 

 toes. Tail short. 



Dental Formula : Incisors, - ; Grinders, ll [? = 44. 

 2 10~~lU 



The above is the formula given by Sir John Richardson ; but F. 

 Cuvier (and he is followed by Lesson) makes the number 30, namely : 



Incisors,-; Canines, - Molars, ?=? = 36. 

 4 6-6 



We subjoin the teeth as given by F. Cuvier, but Richardson's 

 description appears to be very carefully given, and his accuracy ia 

 well known. 



Teeth or 



.<'. Canailmii*, Cuv. (Sore* aquation, Linn.) is the Brown Mole of 

 Pennant ; the Sbrew-Mole of CJ.jdman; the Mole of Lewis and Clarke; 

 and the Musarnigne-Taupe of Cnvi. r. 



The body i thick and cylindrical, like that of the Common Mole, 

 without any distinct neck ; limbs very short, heing concealed by the 

 akin of the body nearly down to the wrist and ankle joints; fore 

 extremities situated nearly under the auditory opening; the moveable 

 snout almost linear, and projecting about 44 linrs beyond the incisors, 

 naked at its extremity, p.rticularly above, thinly clothed with hairs 

 below for about two-thirds of iU length next the incirors a con- 

 spicuous furrow extends nearly its whole length on the upper surface 



and beneath there is also a furrow, reaching half its length from the 

 incisors, beyond which last the snout is transversely wrinkled beneath, 

 and its small, flat, or truncated extremity is smooth and callous ; the 

 small oblong nostrils open in an inclined space immediately above 

 this circular callous end. The eyes are concealed by the fur, and 

 scarcely to be found in dried specimens. In most lights it is browuih- 

 black; when blown aside it shows a grayish-black colour from the 

 roots to near the tips. Such is the general colour over the whole 

 body, but there is a slight chestnut-brown tinge on the forehead and 

 about the base of the snout On the throat the fur is shorter and 

 paler. Length of head and body 7 inches 8 lines, and of tail 1 inch 

 6 lines. Such is, in substance, the accurate description by Sir John 

 Richardson of this species. 



It inhabits the banks of the Columbia River and the adjoining 

 coasts of the Pacific, where it occurs in considerable numbers. 



Sir John Richardson states that the Shrew-Molt) resemble* tho 

 common European Mole in its habits, in lending a subterranean life, 

 forming galleries, throwing up little mounds, and in feeding principally 

 on earth-worms and grubs. The individual domesticated by Mr. Titian 

 Peale is described by Dr. Godman, who paid much attention to the 

 manners of these animals, and who relates that they are most active 

 in the early part of the morning, at mid-day, and in the evening, 

 coming daily to the surface, when in their natural state, at noon. 

 Then they may be taken by driving a spade beneath them and 

 throwing them on the ground, but they are hard to be caught at any 

 other time of the day. They burrow in a variety of soils, but in wet 

 seasons they retire to the high grounds. Mr. Pi-ale's shrew-mole fed 

 largely on fresh meat, cooked or raw, drank freely, was lively and 

 playful, followed the hand of its feeder by scent, burrowed for a short 

 distance in loose earth, and after making a small circle returned for 

 more food. It employed its flexible snout in a singular manner whilst 

 it was eating, in order to thrust the food into its mouth, doubling it 

 so as to force it directly backwards. 



Shrew-Mole (S.-alufi agnation). 



M. Lesson makes the Scalopi Pcnmylranica the typo of his genus 

 Talpatorac, acknowledging however that it only differs from Scalopi in 

 its dental formula, which he gives thus: 



Incisors, -; Canines, ?j Molars, 11=11 = lo. 

 4 06 



It will be well for the student to bear in mind, with reference 

 to the genus proposed by Lesson, Sir John Richardson's observations 

 on the dentition of Scalojii above noticed. 



\\itli regard to the question of the existence of True Molos in 

 North America, the following remarks of tho hist mentioned accurate 

 and diligent author are also worthy of attention : " From the great 

 resemblance of the Shrew-Mole to the common one, they might bo 

 readily mistaken for each other l.y a common observer; and liartram 

 and others, who have asserted the existence of a species of the genus 

 7*0/7)0 in America are on this account supposed, by later writers, to 

 have been mistaken. There are howovcr several true moles in 'the 

 Museum of the Zoological Society which were brought from America, 

 and which differ from the ordinary Kump. an i-p<.-H. a in b'iiiif of a 

 smaller size, and in having a shorter and thicker snout. Their fur is 

 brownish-black. I could not learn what district of America tl. v 

 came from." ('Fauna Unrcali Americana.') 



Matroicclida. Mnz/.le narrow, ending anteriorly in a long and 

 subcyliiidrical probMoU, having nostrils nt its uprx ; eyes moderate; 

 ears large and round, llody furry. Tail elongated, scaly, annulated, 

 and furnished scantily with hairs. Feet distinct, plantigrade, and 

 5 toed; the claws falcular; hind legs much shorter than the fore feet. 



Incisors, "L; Canines, * ~*; Molars, 5^! = 40. (Smith) 



M. typicut. Above brown, brightened by an intermixture of 

 tawny; l.with whitish; extremities covered with a very short 



