CARNARIA. 
81 
use of its long, pointed head, the extremity of its muzzle being provided with a peculiar little hone, and 
the cervical muscles being extremely powerful. There is even an additional bone in the cervical liga- 
ment. The hinder part of the body is feeble, and the animal above ground advances as awkwardly as 
it does rapidly below the surface. Its sense of hearing is extremely acute, and the tympanum very 
large, although there is no external ear ; hut the eyes are so small, and so hidden beneath the hair, 
that their existence even was denied for a long while. [They have been ascertained, however, to be 
tolerably sharp-sighted.] The genital organs have this peculiarity, that the bones of the pubis do not 
become joined ; by reason of which, notwithstanding the narrowness of the pelvis, they are enabled to 
produce tolerably large young ones : the urethra of the female passes through the clitoris : she has 
six teats. The jaws are feeble, and the food consists of insects, worms, and some tender roots, [chiefly, 
however, worms, though even small birds are sometimes sacrificed to their voracity, when they can 
dart upon them from the entrance of their runs]. There are six incisors above and eight below.* The 
canines have two roots, in which respect they partake of the nature of false molars f : behind them are 
four false molars above, and three below ; and finally, three bristled molars. [The fur is set vertically 
in the skin, whence it has no grain or particular direction.] 
Our common European Mole {T. Europcea, Lin.)— Entirely black, but often varying to white, fulvous, or pied. 
[A most remarkable animal, not only for the ardour of its passions, appetites, and emotions, but for the curious 
instincts with which it is endowed, more particularly with regard to the complicated regularity of its subterraneous 
dwelling and galleries.] According to M. Harlan, this species likewise exists in North America [or, at any rate, 
there is a species stated to be from that continent most closely allied to it, of which the Zoological Society of 
London possess specimens.] 
M. Savi has found a Mole in the Apennines said to be quite blind, although otherwise similar to the common one 
(the T. caeca, Sav.) : it is not, however, perfectly blind, for the eyelids have an opening, though smaller than in the 
common Mole. The existence of the optic nerve in this last species has been denied : I think I can demonstrate 
it throughout its course. [Two other species are known, T.japonica and T. moogura.] 
The Condylures {Condylura, Illig.), — 
Seem to combine the two kinds of dentition of the Insectivora : their upper jaw has two large trian- 
gular incisors, two others which are extremely small and slender, and upon each side a strong canine ; 
the lower jaw has four incisors slanting forward, and a pointed canine of small size. Their superior 
false molars are triangular, and separated ; the lower dentelated and trenchant. In their feet and whole 
exterior, the animals of this genus resemble the Moles, but have a longer tail, and, what very readily 
distinguishes them, their nostrils are encircled with small moveable cartilaginous points, which, when 
they separate, radiate hke a star. 
[Three or four species are now known, all from North America. Among them is] Sorex cristatus, Lin. 
The Shrew-moles (Scalqps, Cuv.) — 
Have teeth rather similar to those of the Desmans, except that their small or false molars are less 
numerous ; the muzzle is simply pointed, as in the Shrews ; and their hands are widened, armed with 
strong nails, and in short adapted for digging into the ground precisely as in the Moles, which they 
entirely resemble in their mode of life. Their eyes are equally small, and their ears concealed in the 
same manner. 
Sorex aquaticus, Lin.— Appears to inhabit a very great part of North America, along the rivers : externally, it 
so nearly resembles the European Mole as to be readily mistaken for it. [Three other species, from the same 
general locality, have been recently discovered. 
The Insectivora, according to the views of De Blainville, should constitute an entirely 
distinct order, intermediate to the Cheiroptera and Edentata. 
They present an almost unbroken series of successively distinct divisions, more or less allied 
together. The most definite super-generic section is that composed of the four genera last in 
order, or the various animals analogous to the European Mole. At the other end of the series, 
the spinous genera, at first sight, appear equally separated ; but they certainly grade through 
Centenes and then Gymnura to the Shrews, which are again related to the Talpidce; if, indeed, 
the line of separation should not be drawn between Centenes, and Erinaceus and Echinops : the 
* Were this truly the case, it would be an anomaly throughout pla- I incisors as the real canines. — E d. 
cental Mammalia : but as the lower canines, as thus assigned, close t There is no essential difference between canines and false molars, 
within the upper, we are led to identify the exterior pair of seeming | See p. 77 . — Ed. 
G 
