34 6 INSECTIVORES. 



in others the number is reduced to thirty-eight, owing to the loss of the first pair 

 of premolars in each jaw. The molar teeth have very tall crowns. The golden 

 moles derive both their popular and scientific names from the brilliant metallic 

 lustre of the fur, which shows various tints of green, violet, or golden bronze; 

 the brilliancy of these metallic hues being much intensified when the skin is 

 immersed in spirit. 



The runs are made so near the surface of the ground that the 

 earth is raised above the tunnel, which can accordingly be followed 

 with ease in all directions. When one of the moles is seen to be at work, owing to 

 the movements of the soil, it can readily be thrown up on to the surface by the aid 

 of a stick or spade. The food of the golden moles consists mainly of earth-worms. 

 The nearest relatives of the golden moles appear to be the tenrecs, while the 

 ordinary moles are closely allied to the shrews ; and it is thus interesting to find 

 two widely different groups of animals modified for a similar kind of subterranean 

 life. This modification has, however, by no means followed the same lines in the 

 two groups, for not only do the skeletons of the golden and true moles differ con- 

 siderably from one another, but there is a still more marked difference in the form 

 and structure of the fore-foot. Thus, whereas the fore-foot of the true mole has 

 assumed the well-known hand-like form, with an additional sickle-like bone near 

 the thumb, that of the golden mole, as we have just seen, is of a totally different 

 type, the power of digging being mainly due to the enormous horny claws of its 

 two middle fingers. 



