142 ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 



order is tihat of the Insectivora or insect-eaters. They are 

 distinguished externally by their small size and soft dense 

 fur, while many of them are adapted for an underground life 

 and possess specially modified front limbs for the purpose 

 of digging. 



Five different genera of moles (Talpidae) are known from 

 North America, and three of these are restricted in distribu- 

 tion to the eastern States. One of them, containing but a 

 single species, the star-nosed mole (Condylura cristate), has 

 its headquarters in the north-eastern States, extending north- 

 ward as far as Hudson Bay, and southward to North Carolina 

 (Fig. 9). The name was given to it from the fact that a 

 ring of riband-like appendages surrounds the end of the 

 muzzle, in the middle of which are situated the nostrils. Like 

 its European relative (Tal pa europaea), it constructs extensive 

 galleries underground, throwing up a ridge of loose earth 

 along the line of the tunnels. No fossil remains of the star- 

 nosed mole having ever been discovered, palaeontology 

 furnishes no evidence as to its past history, and we must 

 assume that it has originated in north-eastern North America. 



What is often known as the common mole (Scalops 

 aquaticus) in the States, is no near relation of the European 

 species of that description. It is more appropriately called 

 naked-tailed mole. The Latin name aquaticus was given to 

 it because its webbed hind- feet led to the inference that it 

 must be a water animal, whereas it actually lives underground 

 in dry sandy soil. Two species of Scalops are known, one of 

 them occurs from Massachusetts to Florida, the other further 

 west, in the Indian Territory. 



Still another eastern species is the so-called hairy-tailed 

 mole (Parascalops breweri), whose habits are very similar 

 to those of the other moles, though it is readily distinguished 

 from them by its thickly-haired black tail. Its range extends 

 along the Atlantic coast, from New Brunswick in the north 

 to North Carolina in the south, and inland to the shores of 

 the Great Lakes. It is even said to occur on Martha's Vine- 

 yard Island off the coast of Massachusetts, which locality is 

 of interest in connection with the view expressed above as 

 to this island having formed part of an ancient land surface 

 now partially submerged. 



