366 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
associated; but the structure of the mechanism by which their burrowing is effected is so different that 
taken in conjunction with certain other characters, it has led modern zoologists to regard the Golden Moles, 
notwithstanding their scanty numbers, as constituting a perfectly distinct family of the Insectivora. 
The skull is shorter, more wedge-shaped, and more elevated at the back than in the true Moles, 
and the premaxillary bones form a process which is curiously turned outwards (see figure, p. 365), but 
this does not run to the extremity of the snout, which is supported by car- 
tilages. The dentition is very peculiar. The total number of teeth is either 
thirty-six or forty, one species having two molars less in each jaw than the 
others; the front upper pair are large and pyramidal in form, presenting some 
resemblance to the corresponding teeth in the Desmans ; these are followed 
on each side by three minute teeth, and these again by five or six true molars, 
of prismatic form. In the lower jaw there are two pairs of front teeth, 
followed on each side by three small pointed teeth (premolars), and by four 
or five true molars. 
The structure of the anterior limb, and of the parts which support it, is 
peculiar and characteristic, differing materially from that which obtains in 
the true Moles. In the sternum there are seven similar pieces, which 
receive the extremities of libs, and behind these a semi-cartilaginous piece, 
called the ensiform (or sword-like) appendage. In front of the rib-receiving 
pieces is a large bone (the mmiubrium ), excavated on each side behind to 
receive the ends of the collar-bones, and furnished along its lower surface 
with a ridge serving for the attachment of a part of the powerful muscles by 
which the fore limbs are moved. The form of this part is very different from 
that of the corresponding piece in the Mole (see p. 368). The form and mode 
of articulation of the collar-bones (clavicles) is also very different. In the True 
Moles the clavicle is a short, thick bone, almost resembling the vertebra of a 
fish ; in the Golden Moles it is a longer and more slender bone, of ordinary 
form, and articulated after an ordinary fashion, both with the sternum and the 
shoulder-blade. The latter bone is larger than in the Mole, and has a very strong 
spine, which projects far beyond the articulation of the humerus (arm-bone). The 
humerus itself is a more slender bone than in the Mole, and more of the ordinary 
form, although it has a very strong tuberosity near the lower extremity ; and 
one of the carpal bones (the pisiform) is most unusually developed, passing up 
alongside of the bones of the fore-arm (radius and ulna), until it reaches the 
humerus. The fore foot is quite different in its construction from that of the Mole. 
The latter consists of five toes, armed with large flat claws, and forms a shovel-like 
organ, turned outwards in a peculiar manner. The fore foot of the Golden Mole has 
only four digits, of which the inner and outer ones (I. and IY. in figure) are small, 
while the second and third toes (II. and IT I.) are large and armed with very large claw's; the claw- 
joint of the third, especially, being of enormous size, and cleft nearly to its base. With this powerful 
instrument the Golden Mole digs his way very readily through the ground, using his hind feet, which 
have five toes, and much resemble those of ordinary Moles, to push him forward in his burrows. 
STERNUM OF GOLDEN MOLE. 
(Twice Natural Size.) 
FORE-FOOT OF GOLDEN 
MOLE. 
(Enlarged. After Owen.) 
THE CAPE GOLDEN MOLE * 
The Cape Golden Mole is about the size of our Common Mole, or a little more than five inches in 
length. The colour of its fur is brown, but according as the light falls upon it it shows brilliant golden 
and iridescent green and purple reflections ; a patch round the eye and a streak from the eye to the 
angle of the mouth are yellowish-brown ; and the throat has a greenish tinge. The claws are of ?■ 
light brown colour. 
The Golden Mole inhabits the Cape of Good Hope and Caflraria, where it feeds, like our British 
Mole, upon insects and worms, which it captures by burrowing through the ground. In the settled 
districts it is as much disliked as the Mole in Europe, on account of the damage which it does in fields 
* Chrysochloris capensis. 
