116 



BREWER'S MOLE. 



Parascalops breweri (Bachman). 



Also called Hairy-tailed Mole and Eastern Hairy-tail Mole. 



Order Insectivora. Family Talpidae. 



INTRODUCTION AND DESCRIPTION. 



Three species of moles are supposed to inhabit West Vir- 

 ginia. Two of these, Brewer's mole and the star-nosed mole, 

 Condylura cristata, have been collected by naturalists in several 

 localities of the State. The third species, known as the "com- 

 mon mole/' Scalops aquations, undoubtedly occurs here, but I 

 have never found it, nor can I obtain any positive evidence that 

 it has been seen by others. Mr. Thaddeus Surber, of White 

 Sulphur Springs, informs me that he believes he took this mole 

 at Caldwell, Greenbrier County, in 1888, but is not positive in 

 regard to the matter. The common mole is more widely distrib- 

 uted than either of the other species referred to and is on 

 record from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Mary- 

 land, and many other eastern states. Since it has been found 

 in all the states bordering on West Virginia, it may very con- 

 fidently be looked for here, by future collectors, especially in 

 the southern and eastern portions of the state. 



Brewer's mole is selected to represent its family in this 

 paper because it is the only species that I have so far collected, 

 and, as a consequence, is better known to me than any other. 



This mole is a little less than six inches in length, tail one 

 and a fourth inches and covered with hair. Color, slate-brown 

 with a silvery gloss; fur fine and short. It has the enormously 

 enlarged fore-feet, diminutive eyes, and flexible, proboscis-like 

 snout common to the moles. 



