CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 4. INSECTIVORA. 



147 



feet, especially the hind ones, are palmated, and suited for swimming. They feed on insects, 

 shell-fish, frogs, and fish. Their eyes are small, and the ears rudimentary. 



Genus DESMAN : Mygale. — The M. Pyrenacia, found in the Pyrenees, is about five inches 

 long : its color is a brownish fawn above and grayish beneath ; its claws are strong, and its 

 musky odor very decided. 



The Russian Desman, M. Moscovitica, is seven inches long, of a brown color, and is still more 

 strongly scented. The fish that devour it are penetrated with its odor. The musk is collected 

 and sold to some extent as a perfume. This animal is found in the Volga and the adjacent lakes. 



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THE CHRYSOCHLORIS ACREA. 



THE CHRYSOCHLORIS. 



Genus CHRYSOCHLORIS. — These curious animals, about three inches long, are exclusively 

 African. They have a chunky body, small eyes, no external tail, ears nearly rudimentary, short 

 legs, and strong fore-feet, fitted for burrowing. The hind-feet have four claws, and the fore ones 

 hut three. The hair is distinguished by a rich metallic luster, which has given them the name 

 of Golden Moles. They live almost wholly in the ground, which they perforate with as much 

 facility as the true moles. 



There is only one genus, but there are several species, — the C. aurea, C. villosa, C. Hottentota, 

 C.Damarensis, and C. obtusirostris, all of the southern and southeastern pails of Africa. 



TALPID.E: MOLES. 



Genus MOLE : Talpa. In the Talpidoe, or Moles, the whole structure evidently points to 

 their strictly subterranean habits. The body is short and thick, and supported upon short and 

 strong legs ; the head is produced into a long muzzle ; the eyes are either so small as to be 

 detected with difficulty, or completely concealed beneath the skin ; and the external ears arc 

 entirely deficient. The internal ear is very perfect, and the olfactory organs are highly devel- 

 oped, so that those senses which must be most valuable to animals confined to a subterranean 

 existence, are possessed by them in the greatest perfection, while the sense of sight, which is com- 

 paratively useless to a creature which passes the greater part of its time in utter darkness, is 

 a'most entirely suppressed. The tail is usually short, or quite rudimentary. 



