ll'EB-FOOTED MOLES. 335 



in external appearance it resembles a shrew its skull and teeth are like those of a 

 mole. Its general colour is slaty-grey. 



THE WEB-FOOTED MOLES. 

 Genus Scalops. 



With the web-footed moles of North America we come to the first representa- 

 tives of the second section of the family, characterised by having the collar-bone 

 (clavicle) and arm-bone (humerus) so shortened and widened as to have lost all 

 resemblance to the ordinary form ; and also by the presence of an additional sickle- 

 shaped bone on the inner side of the fore-foot, next to the thumb, both these 

 features being intimately connected with the purely fossorial habits of all the 

 members of this section of the family. 



All the moles, whether they belong to the New World or the 

 Old World group, are characterised by their peculiar form, which, as 

 we shall mention later on, is so admirably adapted for their mode of life. All have 

 the fore-paws naked and of enormous width and strength ; while in all there are 

 no external ear-conchs, and the small and useless eyes are deeply buried beneath 

 the fur, and are often further protected by an investing membrane. Then, again, 

 these animals are characterised by the extreme thickness and density of their short 

 velvet-like fur, to which no fragments of the soil through which the burrows are 

 driven ever adheres. Like the New World moles, the web-footed moles are dis- 

 tinguished from their cousins of the Old World by the circumstance that the first 

 incisor tooth in the upper jaw is of much larger size than the second. The special 

 characteristics of the web-footed moles are that they have only 36 teeth, of which | 

 are incisors, J canines, and cheek-teeth ; and that the hind-feet are webbed, and 

 the tail is short and nearly naked. 



The common web-footed mole (Scalops aquations) doubtless 

 Habits. 



received its specific name on account of its webbed hind-feet, which 



led to the very natural inference that it was a swimming animal. But according 

 to Dr. Hart Merriam, this is a complete misnomer, for not only is this mole 

 "not known voluntarily to swim, but in the selection of its haunts it shows 

 no preference for the vicinity of water, but manifests rather a contrary tendency. 

 Its home is under ground, and its entire life is spent beneath the surface. Its food 

 consists almost wholly of earth-worms, grubs, ants, and other insects that live in 

 the earth and under logs and stones. It is almost universally regarded as an enemy 

 to the farmer, and is commonly destroyed whenever opportunity affords ; for, not- 

 withstanding the fact that it subsists upon insects that injure the crops, it is never- 

 theless true that, in the procurement of these, it disfigures the garden paths and 

 beds by the ridges and little mounds of. earth that mark the course of its subter- 

 ranean galleries, and loosens and injures many choice plants in its probing for 

 grubs amongst their roots." The nest of this mole, " is commonly half a foot or 

 more below the surface, and from it several passages lead away in the direction 

 of its favourite foraging-grounds. These primary passages gradually approach the 

 surface, and finally become continuous with, or open into, an ever-increasing 



