THE ZOOLOGIST, 



THIRD SERIES. 



Vol. XL] DECEMBER, 1887. [No. ]32. 



THE MOLE, TALPA EUROPMA (Linn). 

 By the Editor. 



Plate VI. 



At the present Any, when such close attention is paid to details 

 of structure as a guide to the classification of animals, and when 

 in the case of the Mammalia the form of the skull and the den- 

 tition are so strongly relied upon to distinguish the several orders 

 in that class of Vertebrates, it is amusing to find that nearly 

 300 years ago the peculiar dentition of the insectivorous Mole 

 had already attracted the attention of English naturalists. 



The Rev. Edward Topsel, Chaplain of St. Botolph's, Alders- 

 gate, in his curious ' Historic of Four-footed Beastes,' published 

 in 1607, quaintly remarks: — 



" I do utterly dissent from all them that holde opinion that 

 the Mole, or Want, is of the kinde of Myse, for that all of them 

 in generall, both one and other, have two large crooked fore- 

 teeth, which is not in Moles, and therefore wanting those as the 

 inseparable propriety of kind, we will take it for graunted that it 

 pertaineth not to that ranke or order of four-footed beastes." 

 (p. 409). 



He clearly perceived a difference between the long-curved 

 incisors of the Rodentia, or gnawing animals, and the short, 

 sharp front teeth of the Insectivora, although he failed to 

 express it scientifically. 



The distinction, however, to which he alluded is one which at 



ZOOLOGIST. — DEC. 1887. 2 M 



