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190 GEOGRAPHICAL ZOOLOGY. [part rv.
Neotropical
Sx;B- REG IONS.
Family 21.—TALPIDiE. (8 Genera, 19 Species.
Nearctic
Sub-regions.
General Distribution.
PaL/EARCTIC
Sub-regions.
1.2.3.4 1.2.3.4
Ethiopian I Orifntvl
Sub-regions. Sub-klgijns.
Australian
Sub-regions.
The Moles comprise many extraordinary forms of small mam-
malia especially characteristic of the temperate regions of the
northern hemisphere, only sending out a few species of Talpa
along the Himalayas as far as Assam, and even to Tenasserim,
if there is no mistake about this locality ; while one species is
found in Formosa, the northern part of which is almost as much
Palfearctic as Oriental. The genus Talpa (7 species), spreads
over the whole Palaearctic region from Great Britain to Japan
Scaptochirus (1 species) is a recent discovery in North China
Condylura (1 species), the star-nosed mole, inhabits Eastern
North America from Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania; Scapanus
(2 species) ranges across from New York to St. Francisco;
Scalops (3 species), the shrew-moles, range from Mexico to the
great lakes on the east side of America, but on the west only to
the north of Oregon. An allied genus, Myogale (2 species), has
a curious discontinuous distribution in Europe, one species being
found in South-East Eussia, the other in the Pyrenees (Plate II.,
vol. i., p. 218), Another allied genus, Nectogale (1 species), has
recently been described by Professor Milne-Edwards from Thibet.
Urotrichus is a shrew-like mole which inhabits Japan, and a second
species has been discovered in the mountains of British Columbia;
an allied form, Uropsilus, inhabits East Thibet. Anurosorex
and Scaptonyx, are new genera from North China.
Extinct Species.—The common mole has been found fossil in
bone-caves and diluvial deposits, and several extinct species of
mole-like animals occur in the Miocene deposits of the South of
France and of Germany. These have been described under the
generic names Dimylus, Geotrypus, Hyporissus, Galeospalax ; while
Palceospalax has been found in the Pliocene forest-beds of Norfolk
;