Catalogue of the Mammalia of Connecticut. 347 



Family TALPiDiE. The Mole Family. 



*10, Scalops Canadensis, Cuv., Shrew Mole, common, Strat- 

 ford. 



*11. Condylura longicaudata, Desmarest, long tailed Star-nose 

 Mole, Stratford. 



*12. C. macrura, Harlan, Black Star-nose Mole, Stratford. 



Family Ursid^. The Bear Family. 



*13. Ursus Americanos, Pallas, common, Black Bear. ? 

 *i4. Procyon Lotor, Cuv., Raccoon, common, O. L. 



nose and tail, upper side dull red, under parts dark gray or light mouse-colored ; 

 end of tall a pencil of black hairs ; feet and legs white, or pale flesh color, toes five 

 on each foot, middle one rather largest, second and fourth sub-equal, first and fifth 

 much shorter than the others, thougli nearly equal to each other, nail white, feet 

 and legs covered througiiout with ver}' soft white hair, which is scarcely perceptible 

 without magnifying, length of hind feet to elbow .5 ; length of fore leg scarcely 

 perceptible, except the foot, which is three tenths of an inch long. Whiskers 

 white, and some of them extend to the ears. Eyes visible, 3J lines from the nose. 

 Orifice of the ear very large, and curiously folded, being nearly 3 lines across. It 

 was named by Dr. Dekay, to whom I sent it, S. platyrrhinchus, and he describes it 

 as a sub-genus, Otisorex. The whole fur of the animal is exquisitely soft and 

 glossy, and he is the least and most delicate mammiferous quadruped I ever be- 

 held. "Dental formula, § incisors, and cheek teeth Yg^ = 32 teeth," (as decided 

 by Dr. Dekay,) who " pays no attention to what are called false molars and true 

 molars, as he believes in neither of them in the family of Soricidas." 



*10. Dr. Godman was, I think, mistaken in saying " the mole employs his flexi- 

 ble snout to thrust his food into his mouth by handing it backwards." A very 

 little observation of the part will show its impracticability. But one fact I discov- 

 ered which may be relied upon. After satisfying myself that he would not eat 

 meat or corn, but would sooner starve, I rubbed some thick grease on the inside 

 of an earthen vessel in which I had him confined, and he would entirely clean 

 the surface, by sucking the grease through his nostrils, and this fact, witnessed 

 with my own eye, induces me to believe, that the rays upon the star-nose mole 

 may be used as feelers, and as means of creating suction to bring food, via the 

 nostrils to the stomach. If it be objected that the mole's nostrils have no passage 

 to the stomach, then it must have been conveyed by rolling the side of the upper 

 jaw into the mouth, and thus making a tube into the mouth below the nostrils. 

 But certainly the point of the nose or upper jaw does not bend in at all. 



*ll and 12. I have obtained a specimen of each in Stratford, and have them in 

 my cabinet. 



*13. The black bear has been killed in Connecticut since my recollection, and 

 according to Dr. Emmons, some are killed every year in Williamstown, Mass. 



*14. Dr. Emmons, in his report, page 26, says : " the raccoon is not known to 

 destroy small animals, and in a state of nature is supposed to subsist entirely on 

 veo-etables." This is a mistake ; I have seen recently in Weston, a hen-roost 

 built of stone, some seven feet high, and covered with a wooden roof, which the 



