SKELETON OF MOLE 



S17 



tributed as regards genera ; a M(3le just gets over the boundary 

 into the Oriental region. The genus Talpa is entirely Old World 

 in range, and includes several species, of which the Common Mole, 

 T. curopaea, is the best known. There are forty teeth, one of 

 the molars of the full mammalian dentition not being represented. 

 In the milk dentition there is an additional premolar, not repre- 



-^ 



Fig. 251. — Sternum and sternal ribs of the 

 Common Mole (Talpa evrn/iarn), with the 

 clavicles (cl) and humeri {//) : Jf, Manu- 

 brium sterni. Nat. size. (From Flower's 

 Osteology.) 



Fi. 



i. 252. — Bones of fore-arm and 

 manus of Mole [Talita europaea). 

 X 2. C, Cuneiform ; ce, centrale ; 

 ^, lunar ; ?/?., magnum ; p, pisi- 

 form ; R, radius ; rs, radial sesa- 

 moid (falciform) ; 5, scaphoid ; td^ 

 trapezoid ; tm, trapezium ; U, 

 ulna ; v(, unciform ; I - V, the 

 digits. (From Flower's Osteology.) 



sented by a successor in the permanent dentition. The formula 

 is thus I -| C ^ Pm ^ M -|. There are no external ears, and the 

 eyes are rudimentary ; the soft silky fur is familiar to everybody. 

 The sternum has a strong crest, associated with a powerful 

 development of the pectoral muscles, so necessary to a burrowing 

 animal. The animal, it is hardly necessary to state, lives under- 

 ground in burrows excavated by itself, which have not, it has 

 been stated, the elaborate and, it appears, fanciful shape assigned 

 to them by many writers. At times Moles appear above ground. 



