STAR-NOSED MOLE 



143 



As for the geological history of these forms, a number of 

 insectivores with talpoid dentition have been met with in the 

 middle Eocene (Bridger) of North America,, and referred to 

 the mole family (Talpidae), but, according to Dr. Matthew, 

 most of them are incompletely known and of doubtful 

 affinities.* The first undoubted member of the family (Pro- 

 scalops) makes its appearance in the Oligocene beds of 

 Colorado, being apparently related to the modern Scalops. 

 Owing to their subterranean habits, the moles are rarely 

 found fossil, except in fissures such as those of La Grive 

 St. Alban in southern France. Palaeontology does not aid 

 us materially in solving the problem as to the place of origin 

 of the Talpidae, or the geological period during which the 

 moles have wandered from one continent to the other. We 

 are also entirely in the dark as to the route they have taken 

 on entering the New World from the Old or vice versa. They 

 may possibly have spread eastward from the western States, 

 but a careful comparative study of the living American moles 

 seems more likely to elucidate this problem than palaeonto- 

 logical research. 



* Matthew, W. D., " Carnivora and Insectivora of the Bridger," p. 536. 



