COUES ON INSECTIVOROUS MAMMALS. 633 



other. lu fact, it is scarcely less distinct from Scalops than from Tal])a 

 itself. 



lu this coLnection, I may notice the repeated ascription of " Talpa " 

 to this conutry. The allegations to this effect have apparently arisen 

 in two ways: from pare assumption and from mistaking of Scapanus 

 hreweri for Talpa europcea. The superficial resemblance of these two 

 species is really curious ; so close is it that casual examination might 

 easily fail to detect any difference in external characters. Audubon aud 

 Bachmaii allude to specimens observed in the Museum of the Zoological 

 Society of Loudon marked " Talpa europea from America ". 



Recent researches render it most probable that the current dental 

 formulae of our genera require to be reconsidered — not as to the total sum 

 of the teeth nor as to their physical characters, but as to their morpho- 

 logical relations and their homologies. This is a subject, however, upon 

 which I do not propose now to enter.* 



§ 2.— THE AMERICAN SPECIES OF TALFID^. 



For aught that we now know to the contrary, the determination of 

 our species offers no difficulty, if we regard the Scalops argentatus Aud. 

 & Bach, as at most no more than a geographical race of S. aquaticus. 

 The authors themselves were only '' induced after some hesitation and 

 doubt to designate it as a new species " (Quad. N. A., iii, p. 253), and 

 Baird questions " whether the two can with entire propriety be sepa- 

 rated" (Mamm. N. A., p. 63). It is certain that none of the ascribed 

 characters are infallibly diagnostic. 



No further material bearing upon the relationships of Urotrichiis (jihhsi 

 and TJ. talpoides having come to hand, the case remains as Baird left it. 



M}' present determination of our Talpidce gives the following results : — 



Family TALPID.^. 



Subfamily Talpin^e. 



Genus Sealops, " Cuv. 1800 ". 



1. SCALOPS AQUATICUS (L.). 



Talpa flavescens, Erxl. — TT. fiisca, piirpiiras^ens, Shaw. 

 Scalops canadensis, Dcsm. (uec Rich.). — S. penn^ylvanica, Harl. 



1 a. Scalops aquaticus argent atus (Aud. «& Bach.). 



.s'. argentatus. And. «& Bach. 



* Cf. Speace Bate "Oa the dentitiou of the corninou mole (Talpa europiea)", Ann. 

 Mag. Nat. Hist.jXix, 18G7, pp. .377-3S1, plate; and Trana. Odoutogr. S )C. Lond., v,18G7, 

 pp. 2f)l-294, pi. vi ; also Mosely and Ray-Lankester " On . . . the dentition of the 

 mole "■..., Journ. Nat. and Pliys., lii (2d scr. ii), 1869, pp. 73-80, pi. ii, (ig.s. 5, 6. 



