58 
IT. S. V. R. li. EXI*. ANI) SURVEYS-ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT, 
S CAL OPS, C.uvier. 
Scalops, Cuv. “Le§ons d’Anat. Comp. I, 1800.” 
Gen. Ch.— Nose elongated, not fringed ; nostrils superior or lateral ; eyes hidden ; tail short ; teeth 36 or 44, the two anterior 
upper ones unusually large, and somewhat like those of a rodent. 
Feet with the palms very broad ; the claws broad, depressed, and long, five in number. 
Hind feet much narrower than the anterior, though generally of nearly the same length ; the 
claws subconical, long, and sharp pointed. The toes more or less webbed to the claws. Tail 
short, naked or hairy. Eyes very small; sometimes covered by the integument. Ears varying 
from a pin-hole to 0.10 of an inch in diameter. Snout long, depressed, conical, cartilaginous, 
without any fringe at the extremity ; the nostrils opening at the end of the muzzle, either lat¬ 
erally or superiorly. 
The teeth vary from 36 to 44, according to the species. The two middle incisor teeth (one 
on each side) in the upper jaw are very large and broad ; the two next succeeding, on either 
side, are small ; the next, representing the canine, is a little larger. The premolars vary with 
the species, from three to four ; the lower incisors from two to three, making the difference in 
the whole number of 8 , (^ 5 ). The premolars increase progressively from the canine to the 
molars. In the lower jaw, the first incisor is very small; the second is a good deal larger, 
especially in S. aquaticus ; the remaining teeth increase progressively in size to the molars. 
The characters of Scalops, as given above, embrace two very distinct types of dentition ; the 
differences being not only in the number but also in the character of the teeth themselves. 
Pomel, in a sketch of the geographical distribution of the Insectivora, published in the Bulletin 
de la Soc. G-eologique de France, for 1842, while very properly retaining the name of Scalops 
for the species with 36 teeth, indicates, without describing, a genus, Scapanus, for those with 
44. The distinguishing characters will then be as follows : 
Scalops. —Teeth 36. Formula: incisors canines premolars molars = 20; or 
perhaps more correctly—incisors canines premolars molars ^ ^ = 36 teeth. 
The two lateral incisors on each side above very small, thread-like, and often deciduous ; the 
canine large, and fitting into a diastema between the second and third teeth of the lower jaw ; 
the two anterior molars nearly quadrate, without any small basal cusp visible on the anterior 
outline, either externally or internally, (indicated very faintly in the first upper molar.) All the 
lateral teeth separated by diastemata ; the canine wanting. The second external lower incisor 
much larger than the first; canine-like. Tail nearly naked. Nostrils in the obliquely trun¬ 
cated end of the muzzle, but antero-superior ; not visible from beneath. 
Scapanus. —Teeth 44. Formula: incisors canines ~, premolars molars — 1—44. 
All the teeth of both jaws anterior to the last premolar, (excepting the broad anterior upper 
incisor,) are of nearly equal size, conical, the upper ones with the points rounded off, and 
closely resembling the simple teeth of Cetaceans the lower more compressed and with the points 
more acute. The upper canine is only appreciably larger than the two incisors anterior to it, 
and the two premolars immediately succeeding. The premolars increase in diameter from first 
to third, though of equal length ; the fourth is much larger, and triangular in section. The 
