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52 nails, the under part of which is grooved. Thus a compact shovel is formed, which, digging away the earth from each side of the boring muzzle,

HAND OF MOLE.

throws it back into the burrow through which the animal is passing. The internal conformation of the fore limbs is no less remarkable than that which is external. The bones are very short, but of great strength and thickness; the shoulder-blade is greatly enlarged; and the breast-bone (sternum) is furnished with a ridge or keel, for the attachment of the large pectoral muscles, as in the case of the Bats, and more markedly, of Birds. The muscles of the arm and hand, of the neck, and of the chest, are of extraordinary vigour; and in the ligament of the neck, and in the muzzle, there are peculiar bones, which strengthen these parts in the laborious act of boring into the solid earth. The hinder parts are comparatively feeble; the great development of power being in the anterior half of the animal.

. (.)

The true Moles have the teeth thus arranged:—inc.; can. ; mol. =44:—the incisors are nearly equal; the canines large, triangular, and