346 INSECTIVORES. 



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

 of premolai-s in each jaw. The molar teeth have very taU 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 mns 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, owintr 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 eaith-woi-ms. 

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

 ordinarv moles are closelv allied to the shrews ; and it is thus interesting to find 

 two widely dificrent gi-oups of animals modified for a similar kind of subterranean 

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

 two groups, for not onlj- do the skeletons of the golden and true moles difier con- 

 siderably from one another, but there is a still more marked diflerence in the foi-m 

 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 homy claws of its 

 two middle fingers. 



