MAMMALS—T ALP I DAE-—CONDYLURA CRIST ATA. 
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CONDYLURA, Illiger. 
Condylura, Illiger, Prodromus, 1811, 125. 
Astromycter , Harris. 
Talpasorex, Schinz. 
Rhinaster, Wagner, Suppl. Schreb. II, 1843, 113. 
Moles with a fringe of elongated caruncles encircling the end of the nose. Nostrils circular, terminal. Tail nearly as long 
as the body, covered with hair. Auditory opening large. 
In the above brief diagnosis are included the most conspicuous features of a remarkable genus 
of moles, peculiar to the northern portions of North America. At present we are unacquainted 
with the precise use of the peculiar nasal fringes and the laciniated processes on the under 
surface of the fingers, so different from what is seen in the other genera. 
As I have not been able to discover more than one species of Condylura among the specimens 
before me, I cannot say what are generic and what specific characters. I have accordingly 
given all its more prominent features in the description of the single species. 
The genus was established by Illiger in 1811, and based on a supposed peculiar series of nodes 
on the tail, caused by its shrinking most around the middle of the vertebrae. It is true that the 
same thing takes place in the tails of other animals when dried, but the name is as applicable 
as many others in common use, and will hardly warrant the use of a new name, as contended 
for by Wagner. 
The differences in external form between Scalops and Condylura are very striking. Thus the 
former has nothing of the peculiar plates on the entire surface of the hands and feet, nor the 
flattened scaphoid tubercle on the inner edge of the sole. The hind feet of Condylura are consid¬ 
erably longer than the anterior ; the palms are relatively smaller, and the digits more deeply 
cleft. The eyes are larger and the ear much more fully developed. In Scalops the tail is much 
the shortest, and the peculiar fringed radiations on the nose are entirely wanting. The teeth 
are totally different. The nearest relationship are with Urotrichus. 
CONDYLURA CRIST AT A. 
Star-Nosed Mole 
Sorex cristatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. (ed 10th,) I, 1758, 53.— Ib. (ed 12th,) I, 1766, 73. 
Erxleb. Syst. Reg. Anim. 1777, 121. 
Schreber, Saugt. Ill, 1778, 566. 
Bodd^rt, Elenchus Anim. I, 1784, 124. 
Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 112. 
Condylura cristata, Desmarest, Jour, de Physique, LXXXIX, 1819, 230 .—Ib. Mam. I, 1820, 157. 
Harlan, F. A. 1825, 36. 
Godman, J. A. N. Sc. Phil. V, i, 1825, 169. 
Griffith, Cuv. II, 1827, 210; pi.— Ib. V. 1827, 110. 
Dekay, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 12. 
Rhinaster cristatus, Wagner, Suppl. Schreb. II, 1841, 117.— Ib. V, 1855, 575. 
Talpa longicaudata, Erxl. Syst. Reg. Anim. I, 1777, 118, (from Pennant.) 
(Erxl.) Schreb. Saugt. Ill, 1778, 561. 
Shaw, Gen. Zool. Mamm. I, 1800, 523. 
