MAMMALIA— ORDER III.—INSECTIVORA. 



division of the family, in which the collar-bones and humerus are rery short 

 and wide, and the fore-paws are furnished with an additional sickle-like bone 

 next the thumb. In this genus the tip of the snout is simple, the hind-foot 

 ■webbed, the tail short and nearly naked, and the first upper incisor tooth 

 longer than the second. Curiously enough, in spite of their webbed hind- 

 feet, these animals are not aquatic, but subterranean in their habits, burrow- 

 ing after the manner of the ordinary mole. The two North American hairy- 

 tailed moles (Scapanus) differ in having 44 teeth, and the tail hairy. Having 

 the same number of teeth as the last, the star-nosed mole {Condylura cristata) 

 of North America is sufficiently distinguished by the curious star-like ring of 

 appendages surrounding the extremity of the muzzle. The tail is nearly equal 

 in length to the body ; and the front-paws are less powerful than in the true 

 moles, and have no cleft in the bones of their terminal joints. 



From all the American representations of the section the true moles 

 (Talpa) of the Old World may be at once distinguished by the first pair of 

 upper incisor teeth scarcely exceeding the second in size. As a rule, 

 there are 44 teeth, and the fore-paws are characterised by their extra- 

 ordinary width and power ; the tail being very short, and in a Nepalese 

 species (T. micrura) concealed by the fur. With the exception of the 

 common mole {T. evroptna), the eyes are covered by a membrane; and in all 

 they are functionally useless. The appearance and habits of the moles are 

 too well known to need description. The common species, although un- 

 known in Ireland, ranges from England to Japan, and a second European 

 species {T. eaca) is found to the south of the Alps. The other seven species 

 are exclusively Asiatic, two only occurring to the south of the Himalaya, one 

 of which inhabits Nepal and Assam. By some the Tibetan rausk-mole 

 {T. moschata) is generically separated as Scaptochirus. The only other member 

 of the family is the yellow-tailed mole {Scaptonyx fuscicatidatus) of Eastern 

 Tibet, which differs from the true moles in having only two pairs of lower 

 incisor teeth, and also in the narrower fore-feet, thus approximating to the 

 shrew-moles. 



Two very remarkable Insectivores, the one from Western Africa, and the 

 other from Madagascar, differ from all the preceding, and agree with the 

 following families in having narrow upper teeth, with their 

 Family Pota- cusps arranged in the form of the letter V ; this section 

 mogalidm. being apparently less specialised than the one in which they 

 form a ^V. In the skull the zygomatic arch is wanting, and 

 the auditory bulla is represented by a simple ring ; collar-bones are want- 

 ing: and the pubic portion of the pelvis is united interiorly only by ligament. 



The African Potamogale is a thoroughly 

 aquatic creature, measuring about two 

 feet in length, with 40 teeth, a long 

 cylindrical body, long and compressed 

 tail, short legs, unwebbed feet, and the 

 nostrils with protecting valves. In colour 

 it is dark brown above, with violet re- 

 flexions, and whitish below. Very differ- 

 ent is the small mouse-like Geogale of 

 Fia 27 -Potamoaale xeUx Madagascar, which has only 34 teeth, and 



also diners in having the lower ends oi 

 the tibia and fibula in the leg separate, although it is not known whether 

 collar-bones are present. 



