MOLE-RATS. 147 



The sandy deserts of Australia are inhabited by certain elegant 



representatives of the present group distinguished by their elongated 



hind-limbs, long ears and tail, and general jerboa-like appearance. Indeed, these 



jerboa-rats (Hapalotis) seem to take the place of the true jerboas in the regions 



they inhabit. 



Lichtenstein's A peculiar species from Tasmania, known as Lichtenstein's rat 



Rat. (Mastacomys), differs from ordinary rats in the great width of the 



molar teeth, and also by the circumstance that the female has but four teats. It 



somewhat resembles the water-vole in size and form, although the body is clothed 



with longer and softer fur. 



THE MOLE-RATS. 

 Family SPALACID^. 



The strange-looking creature shown in the illustration on p. 148 is the 

 typical representative of a small family of Old World Rodents, all of which are 

 adapted for a purely subterranean mole -like life. Except for their large and 

 projecting incisor teeth, which at once proclaim them members of the Rodent 

 order, the mole-rats have a general mole-like appearance, their eyes and external 

 ears being small or rudimentary, the limbs short and provided with large and 

 powerful claws, and the tail usually short or practically wanting, while the body 

 is cylindrical and not marked off from the head by any distinct neck. Their molar 

 teeth are furnished with roots, and have re-entering folds of enamel on their crowns, 

 and premolars may or may not be present. It may be remarked here that the 

 assumption of mole-like habits and a more or less mole-like bodily form is common 

 to several groups of smaller mammals. Thus, among the Insectivores, we have the 

 true moles and the Cape golden mole; while in the Rodents we find mole-like 

 forms in the mole-voles in the present family, and also in the South American 

 tucutuco, belonging to the family Octodontidce, described in the next chapter. 

 The marsupial mole of Australia presents us with an example of the Pouched 

 Mammals, having a similar form and mode of life. 



The great mole-rat (Spalax typhlus}, which is the only repre- 

 Great Mole-Rat. 



sentative of its genus, is characterised by the absence of premolar 



teeth, by the minute eyes being completely covered with skin, and the rudimental 

 wart-like ears. The fur is soft, and so arranged as to be reversible, by which 

 means the movements of the animal in its burrow are much facilitated. The 

 .general colour is yellowish brown tinged with ashy grey above, and ashy grey, 

 mingled with spots and flecks of white, beneath. This species inhabits South- 

 Eastern Europe, whence it extends eastwards to Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia, 

 and also occurs in Lower Egypt. 



The great mole-rat constructs tunnels very much resembling 

 those of the mole, their course being marked by heaps of earth thrown 

 out at intervals. But while the mole constructs its lengthy burrows for the sake 

 of feeding upon earth-worms, the present species and its allies make their sub- 

 terranean journeys in search of bulbs and roots. In Egypt, according to Dr. J. 



