No. 38. NOETH AMEEIOAN FAUNA. Sept., 1915. 



A REVIEW OF THE AMERICAN MOLES. 



By Hartley H. T. Jackson. 



INTRODUCTION. 



On account of their subterranean and secretive habits, American 

 moles apparently were not observed by the earlier American ex- 

 plorers. As the settlement of the United States progressed, however, 

 these animals became well known, and in many cases proved injurious 

 to agriculture. Moles occur rather generally in eastern North 

 America along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Labrador to Florida 

 and in northeastern Tamaulipas, Mexico, and range westward to 

 Manitoba and northeastern Colorado. Within this area are found 

 three genera, Scalopus, Parascalops, and Condylura. All three genera 

 occur in some localities, but no one covers the entire region occupied 

 by the group. West of the area mentioned no moles are found until 

 the Pacific coast region is reached. There, two other genera, Seapa- 

 nus and NeurotricTius, occur^ their ranges being confined mainly to the 

 humid and semihumid region west of the Cascade Range and the 

 Sierra Nevada, from southern British Columbia to northern Lower 

 California. 



In general, the several genera have the following distribution: 

 Scalopus, comprising the common naked-tailed moles of eastern 

 United States, is the most widely distributed and best-known genus 

 of the family. It ranges from southern Massachusetts, southern 

 Ontario, central Minnesota, and northeastern Colorado south to the 

 Gulf States and northeastern Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is confined 

 ahnost entirely to the Upper and Lower Austral Zones. 



Parascalops, comprising only a single species — Brewer's, or the 

 hairy-tailed mole — is much more restricted in range than Scalopus, 

 occurring from southern New Brunswick to northeastern Ohio, 

 southern Pennsylvania, and south along the Appalachian Moun- 

 tains to North Carolina. Although living in the midst of the range 

 of Scalopus, in reality the two occur together at comparatively few 



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