22 



NORTH AMERICAN- FAUNA. 



[No. 38. 



SUBFAMILIES. 



Several mammalogists have undertaken to divide the Talpidse 

 into groups or subfamilies. The most recent classification of this 

 sort is that of Thomas/ who divides the family into five subfamilies, 

 namely, Desmaninae; Talpin^, Scalopinse, Condylurinse, and Urop- 

 silinse. The American genera Scalopus, Scapanus, Parascalops, and 

 Neurotrichus would fall in the subfamily Scalopin^, according to this 

 arrangement, while the Condylurinss would be represented only in 

 America by Condylura. Such a system of classification, however, is 

 superficial and unnatural. The anatomical differences, other than 

 dentition, between Parascalops or Neurotrichus and each of the 

 other genera of American moles are as great as those between Con- 

 dylura and each of the other genera or even greater. In other words, 

 in order to recognize fundamental and consistent subfamilies it 

 would be necessary to raise nearly every genus to the rank of a sub- 

 family. The convenience of such a classification is not apparent, 

 and accordingly subfamilies have been disregarded here. 



HISTORY. 



No reference appears in literature to a mole inhabiting America 

 until Seba,^ in 1734, described and illustrated two mammals which he 

 called ^^Talpa, Virginianus, niger^' and ^'Talpa, rubra, Americana.'' 

 Seba, apparently erroneously, gives '^America" as the habitat of each 

 of these animals. His figure and description of Talpa virginianus 

 niger clearly indicate that Talpa europsea Linnaeus was the animal in 

 mind. It is impossible definitely to determine the current species 

 to which his name Talpa rubra americana refers; probably he had 

 reference to a specimen of the African genus GJirysocJiloris, but it is 

 possible that he based his account upon a verbal description of some 

 species of the American genus Geomys. The essentials of his de- 

 scription of Talpa rubra americana refer to the red color, the short, 

 white, scantily haired tail, and the ''tridactyle" fore feet. Never- 

 theless, his account shows that the presence of moles in America 

 probably was suspected at that time. The first definite knowledge 

 of their accurrence seems to have been obtained by Kalm,^ who, 

 October 28, 1748, saw burrows and runways of moles near Phila- 

 delphia, Pa. He captured one of the animals, and remarked upon 

 its strength and ferocity. 



Linnaeus,^ in 1758, described two American moles under the names 

 Sorex aquaticus and Sorex cristatus, basing his accounts largely upon 

 Kalm/s work. During the century following Linnseus's descriptions 



1 Thomas, Oldfleld, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., series 8, vol. 10, p. 397, October, 1912. 



2 Seba, A., Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri, vol. 1, p. 51, pi. 32, 1734. 



3 Kalm, P., Beschreibung der Reise nach dem nordllchen America, vol. 1, pp. 190-191, 1769. 



4 Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, ed. 10, p. 53, 1758. 



