SECRETARY'S REPORT. 145 



Blarina ialpotdes, (Gray.) — Mole Shrew. 



This animal is quite common in this State ; it is often seen in summer, 

 at twih'ght, running through the leaves and grass searching for food, and 

 its tracks in the snow, in the winter, and the little holes it digs through 

 the snow to the ground, with sometimes a fragment of an insect which 

 the little animal has left, attest to its activity in this season when its 

 supply of food must necessarily be small. It prefers the neighborhood 

 of a swamp, and is a good swimmer. 



Description. — Head bi-oad ; ears concealed in the fur ; whiskers nume- 

 rous, white ; body very stout ; limbs short and strong ; anterior feet 

 wider that the posterior ; all the feet naked beneath, with large scales, 

 and scanty, thin hairs above ; tail very short, four-sided, covered with 

 short, yellowish-brown hairs, with longer hairs at its tip. Color ; the fur 

 on the upper parts is cinereous at its base, tipped with light chestnut ; 

 beneath the body, lighter ; feet, yellowish white. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length of head, 1 inch. 



Length of head and body, 3^ inches. 



Length of tail, not including hairs at the tip, | of an inch. 



Length of tail, including hairs at the tip, IJ inches. 



Length of hind-foot, f of an inch. 



Length of fore-foot, \ an inch. 



Family: Talpid^e. — (Mole Family.) 

 Characteristics. — External ear wanting ; no neck ; body thick and 

 strong, covered with soft, compact fur ; the limbs short ; the anterior feet 

 very wide and powerful, and furnished with long, flat claws, fitted for 

 digging. This family is represented in this State by the genera Scalops 

 and Condylura. 



Genus : Scalops. — (Cuvier.) 

 Characteristics. — Head long, and tapering to the nose, which is elon- 

 gated, flexible, and simple ; incisors, six in the upper and four in the 

 lower jaw ; canines, eight in the upper and six in the lower jaw ; molars, 

 six in each jaw ; eyes minute, scarcely visible ; external ears entirely 

 wanting ; neck wanting ; body robust, the limbs short, the anterior feet 

 very broad, furnished with long, thin claws ; the posterior feet long and 

 slender, furnished with delicate, crooked claws ; tail short, slender, and 

 nearly naked. 



Scalops aquaticus, (Linnaeus.) — Common Mole. 

 This species is very common in this State, hardly a field or pasture 

 can be met with but has numbers of little loose hills of soil thrown up, 

 which are made by this and the star-nosed mole, in digging for worms 



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