SCAPANUS AMERICANUS. 
63 
SCAPANUS AMERICANUS (Bartram, MS.) Coues. * 
Hairy-tailed Mole ; Breivers Mole. 
I have secured a number of examples of this species from the 
borders of the Wilderness, but have not observed it within the co- 
niferous forests. Specimens have been taken in the garden, where it 
excavates long and tortuous burrows, often marked upon the surface 
by crumbling ridges of earth. 
Its habits, so far as I am aware, resemble those of its nearest rela- 
tive, the shrew mole ( Scalops aquations), except that its mounds do 
not contain a chamber and surface opening, and its galleries are 
usually made a little deeper. Like this species it is most common 
in dry meadow lands, while the star-nose is usually found in moist 
or swampy places. It is much more common here than the shrew 
mole, and is evidently a more northern animal. It is not known to 
indulge in the little “noon-day excursions ’’ which, as already related, 
are characteristic of the last-named species. 
In a wet meadow where Dr. Fisher and I caught eight star- nosed 
moles in October and November, 1883, we procured but one Brewer’s 
Mole It was taken in the following manner : A section of stove 
pipe, the lower end of which had been closed with a tight-fitting 
board, was sunk along the line of a gallery to such a depth that its 
upper edge was on a level with the floor of the runway. The surface 
opening was covered over with a piece of rubber cloth to exclude 
the light. For some time the moles worked around this pitfall with- 
out tumbling in, to prevent which operation Dr. Fisher arranged a 
pair of wings or leads (strips of boards), placing their inner ends 
flush with the pipe. The Moles now adopted a new mode of pro- 
cedure and filled the pipe with dirt so that they might pass over it 
with impunity. It was left in this condition for some days and then 
* In the American Naturalist for March, 1879 (pp. 189-190), Dr. Coues refers this species, 
which is generally known as S. Breweri, to Talpa Americana (Bartram, MS.) Harlan. This con- 
clusion is. corroborated by Dobson in his Monograph of the Insectivora (Part II, London, June 
1883, pp. 134 - 135 ). 
