CARNARIA. < 4 



en and adorn so many birds, fishes, and insects. Its fur is a green, 

 changing to a copper or bronze colour; there is no conch to the ear, 

 and no eyes can be discovered*. 



Talpa, Lin, 



The moles are universally known by their subterranean life, and by their 

 form, which is eminently fitted for their mode of existence. A very short 

 arm attached by a long scapula, supported by a powerful clavicle, furnish- 

 ed with enormous muscles, sustains an extremely large hand, the palm of 

 which is always directed either outwards or backwards ; the lower edge of 

 this hand is trenchant, the fingers are scarcely perceptible, but the nails 

 in which they terminate are long, fiat, strong, and sharp. Such is the in- 

 strument employed by the mole to tear the earth, and throw it backward. 

 Its sternum, like that of birds and bats, has a process which gives to the 

 pectoral muscles the large size that is required for their functions. To 

 pierce and raise up the earth, it makes use of its long pointed head, whose 

 muzzle is armed at its extremity with a peculiar little bone, and its cervical 

 muscles are extremely powerful. There is even a special bone in the cer- 

 vical ligament. It has but little power behind, and moves as slowly above 

 ground as it advances rapidly under it. Its sense of hearing is very acute, 

 and the tympanum very large, although there is no external ear ; its eyes 

 are so small, and so hidden by the hair, that for a long time their exist- 

 ence was positively denied. In the genital organs there is this peculiarity 

 — the bones of the pubis are not united, a circumstance which permits it 

 to produce tolerably large young ones, notwithstanding the narrowness of 

 the pelvis. The urethra of the female passes through the clitoris. She 

 has six teats. The jaws are weak, and the food consists of worms, insects, 

 and some soft roots. There are six incisors above, and eight below. The 

 canines have two roots, which causes them to partake of the nature of false 

 molars ; behind, there are four false molars above and three below, after 

 which are three bristled molars. 



T. europcea, L. ; BuiF. VIII. xii. (The Common Mole). Point- 

 ed muzzle ; fur thin and black ; individuals are found white, fawn- 

 coloured, and piebald. This is an animal which is found very incon- 

 venient by the havoc which he makes in gardens and other cultivated 

 places. 



This species, according to Dr. Harlan, is also found in North 

 America {a). 



* The Red Mole of America, Sebay, pi. xxxii. f. 1, {Talpa rubra, Lin.) is most pro- 

 bably a Chryso asiaticus, drawn from a dried specimen of that species, for then the fur 

 appears purple; the tucan of Fernandez, App. XXIV, which is considered as syno- 

 nymous with it. 



1^ (a) We have the authority of Dr. H. M'Murtrie against the existence of the 

 common Mole in America. That which obtains the name of the common Mole in 

 the United States is the Scalops Aqualicus, described in the succeeding page. — 

 Eng. Ed. 



^^ The common Mole, at the period when it builds its nest, (about the beginning 

 of February), and brings forth its young, is an object peculiarly deserving the attention 

 of the naturalist. The nest is always in a cavity formed in the midst of the hillocks, 

 which are so frequently to be met with in the fields, and well known under the title 



