448 The MmJc. 



to advance a step without breakintr down their galleries. The 

 exca^'ations which are most continuous, and appear to be most 

 frequented, are placed at a short distance below the roots of the 

 grass on the banks of small streams ; these are to be traced along 

 their margins, following every inflexion, and making frequent cir- 

 cuits in order to pass large stones or roots of trees, to regain their 

 usual proximity lo the surface nearest the water." Audubon says 

 that the burrows are deeper than those described by Godman, and 

 that the chamber of habitation at the end is spacious, with a com- 

 fortable nest of withered leaves and dry grass. Out of one of 

 these he took three young ones about a week old, and found that 

 the radiations of the nose were then so slightly developed that the 

 animals might have been mistaken for the young of the common 

 mole. Whten confined in a box they would eat meat. 



The nse of the extraordinary appendage at the end of the nose 

 is not known with certainty. It is only barely probable that as 

 the animal subsists by groping about under the ground in search 

 of worms and other small prey, the ornament on his muzzle may 

 assist it in the search. 



At certain seasons it is observed that the tail of the star-nosed 

 mole is much swollen, and hence the mistake of Dr. Harlow, who^ 

 upon a specimen taken in this condition, made a new species 

 with the name macroura, or long tailed mole. This species is 

 found in Canada but rarely, although it appears to be distributed 

 all over the province. In the United States it occurs in all the 

 northern and eastern portions and as far south as the borders of 

 South Carolina. 



ARTICLE XXXIX.— Ora the MinJc, {Futorius vison.) 



Genns Putorius. — (Cuvier.) 



Dental Foemltla. 



Incisive, | ; Canine^ \ — \ ; Molar, |- — f = 34. 



Generic Characters. — There are two false molars above, and 

 three below ; the great carnivorous tooth belovv, without an 

 internal tubercle ; the tuberculous tooth in the upper jaw, very 

 long. 



Head, small and oval ; muzzle, short and blunt ; ears, short 

 and round ; body, long and vermiform ; neck, long ; legs, short ; 

 five toes on each foot, armed with sharp crooked claws ; tail, 



