1885.] Zoology. 895 
in thinking that in the transformed lamprey there is a true man- 
dibular rudiment. 
THE Star-Nosep More Ampuisious.—On June 7th, 1885, we 
were favored with the opportunity to witness the skill and ease 
with which a star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata ) propelled 
itself through the water. Standing near an expanded portion of 
a clear meadow brook, we noticed an object moving rapidly near 
the bottom. So swift were its movements that the eye was 
troubled to follow them. The zigzag course which the animal 
IRIDESCENCE IN THE OrEGON Mote.—In examining alcoholic 
specimens of Scapanus townsendi Bachman, from Klamath basin, 
Oregon, kindly presented to me by Captain Chas. E. Bendire, 
U.S. A., I have been surprised to observe a play of iridescent 
metallic colors, particularly when the animals were viewed by 
reflected light. The prevailing tints are purple, lilac,and bronze, 
often showing a rich coppery or brassy luster. 
It was doubtless a similar condition which led ‘Cassin to 
apply the names S. eneus and S. metallescens to an alcoholic 
specimen in the museum of the Philadelphia Academy, } 
I am informed by Dr. Geo. E. Dobson, F. R.S., that the bril- 
liant hues of the African genus Chrysochloris are much intensi- 
ed by immersion in spirits.— C. Hart Merriam. 
Tne Pine Mouse 1n NortHern New YorkK.—On the 13th of 
June, 1884, at my home in Lewis county, New York, I caught a 
female pine mouse (Arvicola pinetorum LeConte). It was taken in 
a trap baited with beechnuts and set for the red-backed wood 
mouse (Evotomys rutilus Gapperi) at the roots of a maple in the 
border of a hard-wood forest. This species has not been pre- 
viously recorded from so far north in the Eastern States, Massa- 
chusetts having been given as the limit of its northern range. Its 
rarity appears from the fact that this is the only individual ever 
Procured here, while of the common meadow mouse (Arvicola 
riparius) I have taken several hundred specimens. 
_* This was suspected by Professor Baird nearly thirty years ago, for he said: “I 
am not prepared to admit the Scalops eneus of Mr, Cassin as distinct from S. fown- 
2. The smaller size would long to a young specimen, and the peculiar com- 
g immersion of the animal in alcohol.” (Pacific Railroad Reports, Vol. viru, 
1857, p. 67.) 
