Til hi I'.A'I'S. 



(ilf) 



in()viii,«»' a l)iiildinj»'. The first sjx'einien from the State was taken 

 near Denver, Miami County, in 1887. (P]verinann, American Nat- 

 uralist, \'ol. 2, I). :m, 1888.) I\Ir. C. F. Fite, of Denver, took a 

 specimen near that phiee on June 8. 18f)(), and another ]\Iarch 30, 

 1894. l^utler recorded one from Barth()h)mew (-ounty. 1 am un- 

 abk' to give any other records from the State, althou^^h the species 

 has been taken holli in Oliio and Illinois. 



Habits. — This mole is usually found in damp places and is said 

 to enter the water voluntarily in the pursuit of a(puitic insects. It 

 is quite well adapted for acpiatic life, and the large fore feet, pri- 

 marily modified for digging, make good paddles for swimming also. 

 The long tail no doubt serves as a rudder, much after the fashion 

 of a muskrat's tail. The fore feet are much smaller and the shoul- 

 der girdle is weaker than in the common mole and this difference is 

 probably a correlation with the difference in habitat; the star- 

 nosed mole lives in softer ground and thus requires less force for 

 digging its tunnels. 



The remarkable nasal disk of this species seems to be the seat of 

 tactile organs, of very delicate sensibility. Exactly what habits or 

 conditions of life have brought about their development, we do 

 not know. In the young animal the fingerlike process appear to 

 be little more than ridges on the sides of the snout. The grooves 

 which bound these ridges deepen and grow toward each other till 

 they join and cut off the ridges, leaving them as processes, free 

 from the snout except at their base. 



Order CHIROPTERA. 



BATS. 



The members of this order are easily distinguished from all 

 other mammals by having the fore limb modified into a wing suited 

 for flight. In many respects bats are more highly specialized than 

 any other group of our native animals. The structure of the sexual 

 organs, the highly developed sensory apparatus, the peculiar habits 

 and the adaptation for flight, including the modification of skeleton 

 and muscle, all show^ that these animals have diverged far from 

 the primitive type of mammals. On the other hand, the power of 

 flight, together with nocturnal activity and the habit of hiding 

 away in hollow trees,- caves and other dark places, has reduced the 

 struggle for existence to a minimum. As a result we find an in- 

 ferior development of the brain and only a small mental capacity. 



