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C O N D Y L U R A. 



the animals, and not their simple coverings; but he 

 has the merit of having, for the first time, introduced 

 a consideration of shells in a new point of view, that 

 of forming the essential protection of the organs of 

 respiration, from whence followed, to a certain extent, 

 the general form and position of them ; and thus, by 

 combining as it were the double function of the shell 

 and the animal, to be able to pass easily from the 

 one to the other, by calling the attention to the indi- 

 cations of a new character, founded on the symmetry 

 or non-symmetry of univalve shells, with regard to the 

 respiratory organs. He also replaced the Chiton with 

 the univalves, and in many other instances has ad- 

 duced very satisfactory reasons for having re-united 

 many of the genera of Lamarck and other naturalists, 

 improperly and needlessly sub-divided by them. 



This brief sketch of the progress of conchological 

 study, as a science, must be considered extremely in- 

 complete, since we have professedly named only a 

 small portion of the labourers in that field, and only 

 such .as have in some degree attempted a new system- 

 atic arrangement of shells alone: to have enumerated 

 each new idea, each novel alteration in the progress 

 of time since the days of Aristotle, would have occu- 

 pied space allotted to more interesting matter, and 

 could not have conveyed any useful information, par- 

 ticularly to the scholar ; to have given a mere catalogue 

 of authors, and the various views they have taken on 

 the subject, for the same reason is useless, and as Con- 

 chology in future must be combined with a reference 

 to the animals constructing shells, the system will be 

 described moreamply under the article MALACOLOGY. 



The object of this work is to point out briefly all that 

 may be deemed solid information on every branch of 

 natural history, and not to enter into controversial 

 points of opinion, or to wage war against those with 

 whom we may have the misfortune to differ. Every 

 man has, doubtless, a right to his own set of ideas, but 

 it is deeply to be regretted, when his ignorance, or its 

 offspring, vanity, induces him to question with acrimony 

 another's different view of the same subject ; to split 

 hairs with cannon balls, and to write all men down as 

 asses, who presume to differ with him in opinion. 

 This, unhappily, but too frequently is exhibited by 

 modern naturalists, and it is the more remarkable, 

 since the study of natural history should lead to every 

 good feeling of human nature unite mankind in one 

 common cause, and contribute to one great end that 

 of adoring the Author of all these marvellous produc- 

 tions ; the least of which, if properly received, would 

 humble the pride of the most arrogant of mortals ; by 

 proving to him, that the ingenuity of ages can only 

 produce clumsy imitations of anything bearing the 

 imprint of Almighty wisdom. 



CONDYLURA. A genus of mammalia, belong- 

 ing to the insectivorous division of the order Car- 

 nassier, and, in general habits, bearing some resem- 

 blance to the moles, but differing from them in many 

 particulars. The most, striking of the external pecu- 

 liarities is their tail, from the appearance of which the 

 genus has obtained its name. It is formed with a 

 series of nodes or enlarged round protuberances 

 (condyles], which give it some resemblance to a neck- 

 lace of beads. 



The characters are : six incisive teeth in the upper 

 jaw, of which the two in the middle are very large, 

 bent into a sort of spoon-shape on their inner sides, 

 and with their cutting edges a little oblique ; the two 

 external incisors, in this jaw, are conical, and bear 



some resemblance to canines. There are four incisors 

 in the under jaw, which project forward with a curve, 

 and give a sort of spoon-shape to the exterior part of 

 that jaw ; also, to each side of the upper jaw there are 

 three false molars formed, each of two plates of 

 enamel, and having pointed tubercles on their inner 

 edges, and a groove on their outer. There are four 

 false molars in each side of the lower jaw. The 

 canines in the upper jaw are large and strong for the 

 size of the animal, but those in the lower are very 

 small. They have no appearance of external ears, 

 and their eyes are remarkably small ; their fore-feet 

 are short and broad, with five toes upon each, 

 furnished with claws well adapted for digging in the 

 ground. The hind-feet, which are longer and more 

 slender, are also each provided with four toes. 



This genus of animals is understood to be peculiar 

 to North America, and in its habits to bear a very 

 considerable resemblance to the moles of the eastern 

 world, that is to say, they spend the greater part of 

 their time under ground, and are understood to sub- 

 sist chiefly upon earth worms, earth insects, and larva. 

 Two or three species have been mentioned, but only 

 one is known with certainty, and of its manners we 

 know but little. 



Star-nosed Condi/lure (Condyhtra cristata). This is 

 the Sorex cristatus of Linnaeus, but it is more nearly 

 allied to the moles than to the shrews, and therefore, 

 the name is inapplicable. The knots on the tail and 

 also the very remarkable form of the termination of 

 the muzzle, readily distinguishes this from any other 

 animal. The muzzle is very long, supported in the 

 centre by an axis of bone, in the same manner as the 

 snout of a pig, and like that, it has the nostrils central 

 in the extremity, so that we may conclude that its 

 sense of smelling is of considerable service to it in the 

 finding of its food ; but the extremity of the snout is 

 very different from that of any other animal. It is in 

 the form of a star, consisting of cartilaginous rays 

 which are rose-coloured, have their surfaces granu- 

 lated, and are about twenty in number ; two on the 

 middle of the upper part and four on the under, are 

 much longer than the rest. All the points of which 

 this star-like rose is composed, are moveable at the 

 pleasure of the animal ; but from the peculiarity of 

 their form, we may naturally suppose, that this 

 description of digging instrument, though it may 

 make its way faster than the entire snouts of other 

 digging animals, cannot force its way so readily 

 through compact mould, and thus, the animal is 

 adapted to those alluvial deposits in the American 

 forests, which are formed rapidly, consist in great 

 part of leaves, and are very spongy in their texture. 

 It is possible that some of the elongated filaments 

 may assist the animal in feeling for its food under- 

 ground : but we are not so well informed of its habits 

 as to be able to decide upon particulars. 



The feet bear some resemblance to small hands, 

 they are broad, naked, and covered with scales ; and 

 the'nails, though longer than those of the mole, are 

 more slender and not so trenchant on their under 

 sides, which farther shows that this animal is adapted 

 for making its way through softer soil than that with 

 which our moles have to contend. This is still farther 

 indicated by the structure of the hind feet, which are 

 long and slender, differing in form from those of most 

 other of the smaller burrowing animals, whether of 

 Europe or any other part of the world. All the 

 phalanges of the hind toes are free, so that the sole of 



