The Mole. 



55 



one being that there are no less than nineteen pairs 

 of ribs. The tail is entirely wanting. 



Another of the foreign moles, and one of a very 

 extraordinary appearance, is the Radiated or Star- 

 nosed Mole (As- 

 iroinyces cristatus\ 

 sometimes known 

 as the Condylure, 

 which is found in 

 Canada and the 

 United States. 



In this animal 

 the tipof thesnout Snout of Cond y |ure - 



is modified into a number of pink, fleshy rays, branch- 

 ing off in every direction, and sometimes being as many 

 as twenty in number. These rays are retractile at will, 

 and are supposed to aid the animal in its delicate sense 

 of touch, and in procuring the worms, etc., on which it 

 feeds. Another curious point about the Condylure is 

 the size of its tail, which sometimes exceeds two and 

 a half inches in length. The name Condylure is formed 

 from two Greek words, the former signifying a knob 

 and the other a tail. It was given to the animal by a 

 person who had only seen the dry skin and not the 

 living creature. Except for its great comparative length, 

 the tail has little about it that is remarkable. But, 

 when the animal is dead, the skin contracts so forcibly 

 over the vertebrae of the tail, that the organ looks 

 something like a row of roundish beads strung upon 

 wire and covered with skin. 



