FAMILY. 
TALPIDAE. 
External ear wanting ; no neck ; fore feet greatly expanded, with strong fossorial claws ; limbs very short. 
The family of Talpidae, or moles, embraces several genera, which, though presenting sufficient 
differences among each other, yet agree in having a stout, thick, clumsy body, without visible 
neck; no external ears ; the meatus auditorius sometimes very minute, sometimes as large as 
usual; the eye very small, sometimes concealed by the integument. The nostrils are sometimes 
at the end of the snout, sometimes lateral or superior ; in one genus surrounded by a fringe 
of radiating processes. The limbs are short; the anterior much broader and larger than the 
hinder, with strong claws. The tail is usually short; sometimes almost as long as the body. 
The fur is generally soft, compact, and like velvet in texture. 
The moles are distributed throughout the world, except in the intertropical portions, and in 
South America. The genera are, however, closely restricted, each region having its character¬ 
istic one. Thus Talpa is only found in Europe and Asia; Scalops and Condylura, in North 
America; Chrysochloris in Africa, and Urotrichus in Japan and Northwest America. There 
are also several extinct genera of Talpidae, as Dimylus , Geotrypus, Hyporyssus , Palaeospalax, 
and Spalacotherium . 
The moles are found in nearly every portion of North America as far to the south as Mexico. 
Condylura inhabit the northern parts of the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. One 
species of Scalops (perhaps two) is restricted to the Pacific coast, one to the Atlantic ; one is found 
sparingly in Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio ; and another on the prairies of Michigan, 
Illinois, and the West. One genus, Urotrichus , has hitherto only been found in the Cascade 
mountains of Washington Territory, and ocurring also in Japan, is the only one common to 
America and any other part of the world. 
Notwithstanding the assertions of some authors, we have no evidence of the existence of the 
genus Talpa in America, nor indeed of Scalops in Europe. 
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