18 QUADRUPEDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



the extremity ; it is covered with short hair. The length of the 

 tail is about one third of that of the body. Extremities short and 

 robust, especially the anterior ones, which are covered on the 

 back with scales intermixed with a few hairs. Posterior ex- 

 tremities longer than the anterior, but more slender, and furnished 

 with scales and hairs thinly interspersed ; hind claws white, nar- 

 now, and sharp pointed. 



Dimensions. 



in. t'ths. 



Length of die head and body, . . 4 9 



Tail, 2 9 



Head, 13, Richardson. 



Observations. The preceding species is less common than the 

 succeeding, indeed, it has not fallen under my observation, while 

 the Macroura is quite common. 



2. Condylura macroura. Harlan. 



Condylura Macroura, Harlan, Fauna Am. p. 39. Richardson, Fauna, Bor. 

 Am. 284. 



Figure; Ibid., p. 284, plate 24. 



Specific characters. Color bluish black ; fur thick and darker 

 beneath ; tail long, thick near the body, and tapering towards the 

 extremity. 



Description. The upper incisors project forward, and ap- 

 proach each other obliquely from their sockets, leaving a triangular 

 vacant space at their roots ; canines conical, longer by one half 

 than the succeeding teeth ; canines as well as the false grinders 

 hooked a little backwards ; of the latter there are four ; grinders 

 four on each side, and bristled with points ; teeth white ; the 

 phalanges short ; nails long, standing obliquely to the hand, more 

 slender than in the Scalops ; tail long, strangulated at the base, 

 and largest about one third its distance from the body ; slightly 

 compressed ; pelvis small and narrow ; humerus remarkably thick 

 and stout ; clavicles supported by an arch of bones which are 

 braced against the sternum ; scapula long and narrow, and with- 

 out a broad expansion of bone ; vertebrae somewhat quadrangular, 

 rounded on the inner surface ; lower jaw long and slightly arched, 

 with the incisors standing forward and forming a small segment of 



