SCAPANUS AMERTCANUS. 
65 
Prof. Baird was the first to add the Hairy-tailed Mole to the fauna 
of New York State. In the Report of the Regents on the Condition 
of the State Cabinet of Natural History, 1862, he says: “This 
species of Mole, although not mentioned by DeKay in the State 
Natural History, is in reality very abundantly to be met with in the 
northern part of the State, and apparently to the exclusion of the 
more southern species with white naked tail, S. aquaticus. Its bur- 
rows are very different from those of the latter species ; being at a 
considerable distance beneath the surface, with heaps of loose earth 
thrown up at intervals over the gallery, without any kind of entrance 
whatever.” * 
Dr. Harlan thus described the habits of this species, which he 
supposed identical with the common mole of Europe : “ Subterrane- 
ous, affecting light and cultivated soils ; changing locality according 
to atmospherical variations ; seeking elevated regions during the 
rainy seasons ; excavating long galleries which all communicate with 
each other, parallel to the surface of the soil, and at moderate depths ; 
elevating the earth into what are denominated mole-hills ; excavating 
with their hands, and raising the earth with their head ; feeding on 
worms, insects, roots, bulbs of colchicum, &c. ; entering in rut early 
in the spring, and bringing forth twice annually, four or five at a 
birth, between the months of March and August ; raising their young 
with the greatest tenderness ; forming their nests of leaves, in a 
spacious chamber, the vault of which is supported by pillars, and 
which is situated in a manner to be sheltered from inundations.” f 
But it must be remembered that Dr Harlan confounded this 
animal with the European Mole ( Talpa Europcea ), and it is possible 
that the above is in part compiled from accounts of that species. 
* Fifteenth Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York, on the 
Condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History, 1862, p. 13. 
f Fauna Americana, 1825, p. 44. 
