179 



ramus forming a continuous spoon-shaped projection, allied to that of the 

 upper jaw. The posterior filiform incisor lies against the second, and is 

 so small as to be scarcely discernible. 



Habits and Habitat. — This species ranges from latitude 40° to 46°. It 

 is found in the eastern and northern States, and west to Minnesota. It 

 has been taken in Michigan and in parts of northern and central Illi- 

 nois. Professor Baird examined specimens from Halifax, N. S., Carlisle, 

 Pa., Ft. Ripley, Minnesota, and Essex county. New York. Mr. Kenni- 

 cott reported it as not very rare in Edgar county, Illinois, where it was 

 observed inhabiting the prairie. 



The Star- nosed Mole is at present nowhere a common animal, at least 

 few collectors have specimens in their museums. Godman, however, 

 speaks of them as being so abundant in soft meadows and river bottoms 

 that in many places it is scarcely possible to move without breaking 

 down their interminable galleries. (Godman's Natural History, Vol. I., 

 page. 72.) 



I find no account of the occurrence of this mole in Indiana, although 

 it probably inhabits the northern part of this State, as well as Ohio and 

 Illinois. Specimen 282 of the National Museum was collected by Pro- 

 fessor J. P. Kirtland, at Cleveland, and is, I believe., the only specimen 

 known from Ohio.* 



Dr. J. M. Wheaton kindly called my attention to Dr. Kirtland's list of 

 the mammals in Ohio, published in the Geological Report of the State 

 for 1838, (now very rare) in which this specimen is mentioned; other- 

 wise this species would have been omitted from the present report. 



This species, as to food and general habits, resembles the common mole, 

 preferring, however, low, swampy grounds, and not excavating its gal- 

 leries to so great an extent. According to Godman its most frequent 

 runways are on the margins of small streams, which are followed in 

 their minutest windings. In confinement it feeds on flesh, raw or cooked, 

 refusing all vegetable foods. Their natural food is the larvse of insects 

 peculiar to wet meadows. 



The chamber, or nest, is a space of several inches extent, dug in some 

 spot where the soil is tenacious and the cell not exposed. A nest con- 

 taining three young has been found under a stump. Like most species 

 of American moles and shrews, of its breeding habits little or nothing 

 is known. 



* Dr. Wheaton writes me October 28, 1879, as follows: "Mr. C. C. McLaughlin tells 

 me that Mr. A. C. Freeman, of Butler P. O., Richland county, Ohio, captured a Star- 

 nosed Mole at that place in the spring of 1879. This is reliable." 



