190 
GEOGRAPHICAL ZOOLOGY. 
[part IV. 
Family 21. — TALPIDzE. (8 Genera, 19 Species. 
General Distribution. 
N EOTROPICAL 
Sub-regions. 
Nearctic 
S UB-BEGIONS, 
Pal.earctic 
Sub-regions. 
Ethiopian 
Sub-regions. 
Ohiintvl 
SUB-Itl GI3N8. 
Australian 
Sub-regions. 
— 
1 .2.3.4 
1 .2. 3 .4 
— 
3 - 
— 
The Moles comprise many extraordinary forms of small mam- 
malia especially characteristic of the temperate regions of the 
northern hemisphere, only sending out a few species of Talpa 
along the Himalayas as far as Assam, and even to Tenasserim, 
if there is no mistake about this locality ; while one species is 
found in Formosa,' the northern part of which is almost as much 
Pakearctic as Oriental. The genus Tcilpa, (7 species), spreads 
over the whole Pakearctic region from Great Britain to Japan ; 
Scaptochirus (1 species) is a recent discovery in North China; 
Condylum (1 species), the star-nosed mole, inhabits Eastern 
North America from Nova - Scotia to Pennsylvania; Scapanus 
(2 species) ranges across from New York to St. Francisco; 
Scalops (3 species), the shrew-moles, range from Mexico to the 
great lakes on the east side of America’ but on the west only to 
the north of Oregon. An allied genus, Myogale (2 species), has 
a curious discontinuous distribution in Europe, one species being 
found in South-East Eussia, the other in the Pyrenees (Plate IX., 
vol. i., p. 218). Another allied genus, Nectogale (1 species), has 
recently been described by Professor Milne-Edwards from Thibet. 
Urotrichus is a shrew-like mole which inhabits Japan, and a second 
species has been discovered in the mountains of British Columbia; 
an allied form, Uropsilus, inhabits East Thibet. Anurosorex 
and Scaptonyx, are new genera from North China. 
Extinct Species. — The common mole has been found fossil in 
bone-caves and diluvial deposits, and several extinct species of 
mole-like animals occur in the Miocene deposits of the South of 
France and of Germany. These have been described under the 
generic names Dimylus , Geotrypus, Hyporissus , Galeospalax ; while 
Palwospalax has been found in the Pliocene forest-beds of Norfolk 
