1850.] Description of a new species of Mole* 215 



8th. The above is the description of the process given by the old 

 man. I have only to add, that not pretending to be a geologist, I will 

 not hamper with crude suppositions the opinions of those to whom 

 the Society may make over the specimens for analysis. I am fully 

 satisfied with having brought the mines to light, and I have only to 

 request that, as I see no daily paper, you would oblige me by favouring 

 me with a copy of whatever information may be elicited on the sub- 

 ject of the metal or the ore. It is very probable that with the immense 

 import of all kinds of metals from England, the working of these 

 ancient mines may not now be profitable, still the subject is itself 

 interesting, as bringing to notice another part of India in which mineral 

 riches abound. 



Description of a new species of Mole (Talpa leucura, Blyth). 

 By Ed. Blyth, Esq, 



The species of restricted Talpa that have hitherto been described 

 amount to four only in number, that I am aware of; viz. T. europcea, 

 L., of Europe generally, — T. caeca, Savi, of Italy and Greece, — T. 

 moogura, Temminck, of Japan, — and T. microura, Hodgson, of Nepal, 

 Sikim, Butan, and the mountains of Asam : but the Society's Museum 

 has long possessed specimens of another from Cherra Punji, (N. of 

 Sylhet), which I have recognised as distinct for some years, but now 

 only proceed to describe. 



In its external characters, the Cherra Punji Mole differs little from 

 T. microura, except that the tail is considerably more developed, 

 though much less so than in T. europcea ; and the latter is clad and 

 tufted with white hairs, whence I propose for the species the name of 

 T. leucura. This animal, also, would seem hardly to attain the size of 

 T. microura. An adult female in spirit measures 4^ inch, long, with 

 tail f inch additional : the latter is of a club .shape, much constricted 

 for the basal half, as represented in one of the accompanying drawings. 

 The general colour of the fur, too, is less fulvescent than is usual with 

 T. microura. In both of these Asiatic species, as in T. cceca, there is 

 no perforation of the integument over the eye, as in T. europcea ; the 

 skin being there merely attenuated and imperfectly transparent. 



2 f 2 



