MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 53 



Scalops canadensis F. Cuv. Diet, des Sc. Nat. 



DESMAKEST. Nouv. Diet. Nat. Hist. 



HARLAN. Fauna Americana. 



GRIFFITH. Anim. King. 



RICHARDS. Fauna Bor. Am. 



EMMONS. Zool. N. Y. 

 Scalops latimanus BACHMAN. Journ. Acad. Phila. 



REICHENBACH. Naturg. Kaubt. 



AUDUBON and BACHMAN. Quad. N. A. 



WAGNER. Schreber's Saugeth. 

 Scalops pennsylvanica HARLAN. Fauna Amer. 



FISCHER. Synopsis Mam. 



WAGNER. Schreber's Saugeth. 

 ? Scalops ceneus CASSIN. Proc. Acad. Phila. 



WAGNER. Schreber's Saugeth. 



The above synonymy is not vouched for entirely, much of it 

 being collected from various works. It serves to show how 

 numerous have been the notices of this animal, and yet how 

 little has been added to our knowledge of its habits, variations 

 and anatomy. 



The following measurements indicate the average size : 

 Nose to anus, 4.6 ; tail, 1.4 ; total length, 6 ; nose to incisors, 

 0.5; nose to ear, 1.35; nose to occiput, 2.0; length of fore 

 foot, 0.9; width, 0.85; length of hind foot, 0.9. Additional 

 measurements of the same specimen may be taken from the 

 figure of the skeleton. Color deep brown to plumbeous, with 

 a yellowish reflection ; fur moderately long and fine. Tail 

 almost naked. Snout long, flattened, obliquely truncate, bear- 

 ing the nostrils on the upper and outer surface, inclined toward 

 each other. Fore foot greatly enlarged, both by the lateral 

 separation of the fingers, which are fully webbed, and by the 

 addition of a wide blade supported by a specially developed 

 sickle-shaped bone of the wrist. (See fig. 4 and figs. 6 A and 

 B.) The ear is very minute and entirely without an external 

 appendage ; the eye is concealed under the skin, and lies but 

 little back of the angle of the mouth. 



The mole may be almost said to swim through the earth, its 

 feet not being beneath the body, but on either side, and so 

 armed with broad spade-like claws, and so highly provided 

 with muscles as to glide rapidly through the soft earth. Dur- 

 ing the passage through the earth, the back and shoulders 

 wedge the earth upward, so that the course of the animal can 

 be followed by the observer above. During its passage the 

 highly sensitive and vibratile snout is constantly in motion, 

 searching for such insects, worms, etc., as may come in its 



