COMMON MOLK. 



19 



INSECTIVORA. 



TALPA. 



Fig. 9. 



THE COMMON MOLE. 



Talpa vulgaris. Brisson. 



SINCE the period when Cuvier first detected parts of the 

 fossil skeleton of a Shrew (Sorex) in the osseous breccias 

 of Sardinia, the remains of Moles and Hedgehogs have like- 

 wise been described in works on Fossil Mammalia, especially 

 in those of Schmerling, Schlotheim, the Abbe Croizet, and 

 M. de Blainville. 



Remains of the skeletons of the three principal genera of 

 Insectivora have been brought under my notice at different 

 times from caverns, and the more recent geological forma- 



