THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
Pacific coast ; but none of these is so likely to be found in marshy 
ground as is our quaint star-nosed mole, which, as Stone and 
Cram say, is a creature almost as well fitted for a partially 
aquatic life as the otter and mink, and, as a matter of fact, does 
Star-nosed Pass most of its time about the water, pushing exten- 
Moles sive tunnels through the black peaty soil of swamps 
and along the borders of little brooks and ponds. “The soft, 
black loam is thrown up in frequent heaps, a foot more or less 
STAR-NOSED MOLE. 
in diameter, the opening of the burrow being under the bank, 
and as often beneath the water as above.’ This mole is easily 
recognized by the fact that its piglike snout ends in a circlet of 
fleshy pink tentacles. It feeds on worms and insects, but like 
its relatives varies this with such fish, fish eggs, reptiles, and 
other flesh as it can get. A learned treatise on American moles 
has been written by Dr. Frederick W. True.’ 
In South Africa dwells a group (Chrysochloris) of moles called “golden,” 
because of the unique and lovely iridescence of their fur; but they inter- 
est us chiefly because the bones of the fore limb are modified in a totally 
different way from the typical, and by their likeness to the Australian mar- 
supial mole. Africa also contains the elephant or jumping shrews, which 
take their first name from the proboscislike extension of the snout, espe- 
cially marked in the Algerian species, or ‘rat 4 trompé,” which is tamed 
as a funny pet; and take the second name from the elongated and half- 
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