112 RODENTIA. 



Spalax typhlns. 



Spalax typhlus, Keys. u. Bias. Sp. 31 ; Schinz, Europ. Faun. vol. i. 



p. 65 ; Pallas, Zoog. Boss. As. 

 Aspalase typhlus, Desm. Mamm. Sp. 518. 

 Podolian Marmot, Pennant. 



Descblptioit . — No eyes visible, but they exist beneath the 

 skin, and are very minute, not being larger than a grain of 

 turnip-seed, and can have no power of vision, the skin and 

 fur over them being as thick as on the rest of the face ; 

 about the size of the Common Eat ; body cylindrical ; head 

 thick and angular ; a ridge extends from the nostrils to the 

 ear on each side ; mouth small, higher than wide ; lower 

 incisors twice as long as the upper, wedge-shaped, not 

 covered by the lip, which is shorter than the upper one ; 

 external ears almost none, but the internal organs of 

 hearing much developed ; tail none ; feet short, with five 

 toes ; two inguinal teats. Eur composed of short hairs, 

 which are blackish ash at the base, reddish at the tips, 

 giving to the animal a general grey colour, varied with 

 reddish ; the front of the head and the body beneath are 

 blackish. 



Length of the head and body, 7 inches 7-J- lines ; head, 

 1 inch 9 lines ; vertical height of the head, 1 inch 6 lines ; 

 width of ditto, 2 inches 1 line. — F. M. 



Lives beneath the ground, in societies, burrowing like 

 the Mole, and seldom coming to the surface, but remaining 

 in its subterranean tunnels, along which it moves backwards 

 and forwards with almost equal facility ; prefers the plains 

 to hilly regions ; feeds on the roots of grass and other 

 plants. 



Is found through Southern. Eussia, from the borders of 

 Poland to the Volga and the Caucasus, and especially in the 

 Ukraine ; in Hungary, Moldavia, and Bessarabia. Blasius 



