33 6 
INSEC TIVORES. 
multitude of tortuous galleries, which wind about in every direction, and sometimes 
come so near the surface as barely to escape opening upon it, while at other times 
they are several inches deep. Along the most superficial of these horizontal 
burrows the earth is actually thrown up in the form of long ridges, by which the 
animal’s progress can be traced. The distance that they can thus travel in a given 
time is almost incredible. Audubon and Bachman state that they have been 
known, in a single night after a rain, to execute a gallery several yards in length; 
and I have myself traced a fresh one nearly one hundred yards. The only method 
by which we can arrive at a just appreciation of the magnitude of this labour is by 
comparison; and computation shows that, in order to perform equivalent work, a 
man would have to excavate in a single night a tunnel thirty-seven miles long, and 
of sufficient size to easily admit of the passage of his body.” 
The Hairy-Tailed Moles. 
Genus Scapanus. 
The hairy-tailed moles, of which there are two species inhabiting the United 
States, form a connecting link between the web-footed and the star-nosed moles, 
having the general external appearance of the former, but the same number (forty- 
four) of teeth as in the latter. The habits of the common hairy-tailed mole 
(S. americanus ) appear very similar to those of the web - footed moles; both 
inhabiting dry meadow-land in preference to the swampy ground affected by the 
star-nosed mole. The mounds of the hairy-tailed moles do not, however, contain 
the central and surface opening of those of the web-footed moles; neither do the 
former animals indulge in the midday excursions so characteristic of the former. 
The Star-Nosed Mole. 
Genus Condylura. 
The last of the three genera of North American moles is represented only 
by a single species, the star-nosed mole ( Condylura cristata), so called on account 
of the peculiar ring of riband-like appendages surrounding the end of the muzzle, 
in the middle of which are situated the nostrils. In addition to this feature, this 
mole is characterised by the tail being nearly as long as the body, and also by the 
circumstance that the bones of the terminal joints of the fingers are not cleft at 
their extremities, as they are in the Old World moles. Like the latter, the star¬ 
nosed mole possesses the typical number of forty-four teeth. In length this species 
measures about 5 inches, exclusive of the tail. 
The food of this mole consists entirely of earth-worms and insects 
Habits. .... J 
and its habits are very similar to those of the web-footed mole, although 
it does not apparently make such extensive excavations, and the hillocks thrown up 
from the runs are of larger size. In gardens and arable land these moles tunnel 
near the surface, throwing up a ridge of loose earth along the line of their tunnels, 
but in pasture land they work at a lower level. In both these respects they 
