1864. ] MR. J. K. LORD ON UROTRICHUS. . 161 
The following papers were read :— 
1. Nores on THE Urotricuus. By J. K. Lorp, F.Z:S. 
Urorricuvus Gissit, Baird. 
Hab. Western side of Cascade Mountains, Sumass Prairie, near 
Fraser River. 
This singular little animal, which appears to be an intermediate link 
between the Shrew and the Mole, is at present only known as an 
inhabitant of two parts of the world, widely removed from each other 
—the one spot being the western slope of the Cascade Mountains in 
North-west America, the other Japan. There are, as far as I know, 
but two specimens extant from the Cascade Mountains,—one in the 
Smithsonian Museum at Washington; the other, a very fine speci- 
men, that I have recently brought home, and which is now in the 
British Museum. I have carefully compared the Japanese Urotri- 
chus with his brother from the western wilds, and can find no differ- 
ence whatever, either generically or specifically ; in shape, size, and 
colour they are exactly alike. 
The Urotrichus is of a bluish black when fresh, but in the dried 
specimens sooty brown. The hair is lustrous and where it reflects 
the light has a hoary appearance, and, like that of the Mole, can be 
smoothed in either direction. This is a wise and admirable arrange- 
ment, as it enables him to back through his underground roads, as 
well as to go through them head first. His nose or snout is very cu- 
rious, and much like that of a pig, only that it is lengthened out into 
a cylindrical tube covered with short thick hairs, and terminating in 
a naked fleshy kind of bulb or gland; this gland is pierced by two 
minute holes, which are the nostrils. Each nostril has a little fold 
of membrane hanging down over it like a shutter, effectually pre- 
venting sand and small particles of dust from getting into his nose 
whilst digging. This curious nasal appendage is to him not only 
an organ of smell, but also serves the purpose of hands and eyes. 
His fore feet, as I shall by-and-by show you, are wholly digging- 
implements, and, from their peculiar horny character, not in any 
way adapted to convey the sense of touch. Eyes he has none, and 
but a very rudimentary form of ear; so that his highly sensitive, 
moveable nose serves him admirably in the dark tunnels in which 
his time is passed to feel his way and scent out the lower forms of 
insect-life on which he principally feeds. Had he eyes, he could not 
see, for the sunlight never peeps in to cheer his subterranean home ; 
and sound reaches not down to him; but his nose in every way 
compensates for all apparent deficiencies. His fore feet are, like the 
Mole’s, converted into diggers; the strong scoop-shaped nail, like 
a small garden-trowel, at the end of each toe enables him to dig with 
wonderful ease and celerity. The hind feet are shaped into a kind 
of scraper, by the toe being curiously bent. The length of the hind 
foot is about two-thirds more than that of the fore or digging liand. 
When I come to speak of his habits as differing from the Mole, I 
shall be able to demonstrate the use of this strange scraper-like form 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1864, No. XI. 
