60 Zoological Society : — 



of membrane hanging down over it like a shutter, effectually pre- 

 venting sand and small particles of dust from getting into his nose 

 whilst digging. This curious nasal appendage is to him not only 

 an organ of smell, but also serves the purpose of hands and eyes. 

 His fore feet, as I shall by-and-by show you, are wholly digging- 

 implements, and, from their peculiar horny character, not in any 

 way adapted to convey the sense of touch. Eyes he has none, and 

 but a very rudimentary form of ear ; so that his highly sensitive, 

 moveable nose serves him admirably in the dark tunnels in which 

 his time is passed to feel his way and scent out the lower forms of 

 insect-life on which he principally feeds. Had he eyes, he could not 

 see, for the sunlight never peeps in to cheer his subterranean home ; 

 and sound reaches not down to him ; but his nose in every way 

 compensates for all apparent deficiencies. His fore feet are, like the 

 Mole's, converted into diggers ; the strong scoop-shaped nail, like 

 a small garden-trowel, at the end of each toe enables him to dig with 

 wonderful ease and celerity. The hind feet are shaped into a kind 

 of scraper, by the toe being curiously bent. The length of the hind 

 foot is about two-thirds more than that of the fore or digging hand. 



AVhen I come to speak of his habits as differing from the Mole, I 

 shall be able to demonstrate the use of this strange scraper-like form 

 of hind foot. So far, 1 have endeavoured to give an outline of his 

 general personal appearance, differing from the Shrew in the peculiar 

 arrangement of his feet, and from the Mole in having a long hairy 

 tail. His nearest relative is the Condylura (Star-nosed Mole), whose 

 nose has a fringe of star-shaped processes round its outer edge, about 

 twenty-two in number. 



The first and only place I ever met with this strange little fellow 

 was on the Chilukweyuk Prairies. These large grassy openings or 

 prairies are situated near the Fraser River, on the western side of 

 the Cascade Mountains. In the sandy banks on the edge of the 

 Chilukweyuk River and the various little streams winding through 

 the prairie- grass, lives the Urotrichus ; his subterranean home is a 

 large space or hole excavated like a small cave, and lined with bits 

 of dry grass and leaves. From the central residence roads are tun- 

 nelled away, radiating from it like the spokes of a wheel. His tun- 

 nels are not like those of the Mole ; he never throws up heaps or 

 mounds of earth in order to get rid of the surplus material ; he digs 

 as the Mole, but makes open cuttings at short intervals, about four 

 or five inches long. 



And now we shall see the use of those curiously formed scraper- 

 like hind feet. As he digs out the tunnel with his trowel hands, he 

 throws back the earth towards his hind feet. These, from their pe- 

 culiar shape, enable him to back the dirt out of the hole, using 

 them like two scrapers, only that he pushes the dirt instead of 

 pulling it towards him. Having backed the dirt clear of the mouth 

 of the hole, he throws it over the edge of the open cutting. After 

 havhig dug-in some distance, and finding, I dare say, the labour of 

 backing out rather irksome, he digs up through the ground to the 

 surface, makes another open cutting, and then begins a new hole 



