WEB-FOOTED MOLES. 
335 
in external appearance it resembles a shrew its skull and teeth are like those of a 
mole. Its general colour is slaty-grey. 
Structure. 
The Web-Footed Moles. 
Genus Scalops. 
With the web-footed moles of North America we come to the first representa¬ 
tives of the second section of the family, characterised by having the collar-bone 
(clavicle) and arm-bone (humerus) so shortened and widened as to have lost all 
resemblance to the ordinary form; and also by the presence of an additional sickle¬ 
shaped bone on the inner side of the fore-foot, next to the thumb, both these 
features being intimately connected with the purely fossorial habits of all the 
members of this section of the family. 
All the moles, whether they belong to the New World or the 
Old World group, are characterised by their peculiar form, which, as 
we shall mention later on, is sq. admirably adapted for their mode of life. All have 
the fore-paws naked and of enormous width and strength; while in all there are 
no external ear-conchs, and the small and useless eyes are deeply buried beneath 
the fur, and are often further protected by an investing membrane. Then, again, 
these animals are characterised by the extreme thickness and density of their short 
velvet-like fur, to which no fragments of the soil through which the burrows are 
driven ever adheres. Like the New World moles, the web-footed moles are dis¬ 
tinguished from their cousins of the Old World by the circumstance that the first 
incisor tooth in the upper jaw is of much larger size than the second. The special 
characteristics of the web-footed moles are that they have only 36 teeth, of which f 
are incisors, ^ canines, and § cheek-teeth; and that the hind-feet are webbed, and 
the tail is short and nearly naked. 
The common web-footed mole (Scalops aquations) doubtless 
received its specific name on account of its webbed hind-feet, which 
led to the very natural inference that it was a swimming animal. But according 
to Dr. Hart Merriam, this is a complete misnomer, for not only is this mole 
“ not known voluntarily to swim, but in the selection of its haunts it shows 
no preference for the vicinity of water, but manifests rather a contrary tendency. 
Its home is under ground, and its entire life is spent beneath the surface. Its food 
consists almost wholly of earth-worms, grubs, ants, and other insects that live in 
the earth and under logs and stones. It is almost universally regarded as an enemy 
to the farmer, and is commonly destroyed whenever opportunity affords; for, not¬ 
withstanding the fact that it subsists upon insects that injure the crops, it is never¬ 
theless true that, in the procurement of these, it disfigures the garden paths and 
beds by the ridges and little mounds of earth that mark the course of its subter¬ 
ranean galleries, and loosens and injures many choice plants in its probing for 
grubs amongst their roots.” The nest of this mole, “ is commonly half a foot or 
more below the surface, and from it several passages lead away in the direction 
of its favourite foraging-grounds. These primary passages gradually approach the 
surface, and finally become continuous with, or open into, an ever-increasing 
Habits. 
