. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. .M OF GOLDEN MOLE. •which the fore limbs associated; but the structure of the mechanism by which their burrowing is effected is so different that, taken in conjunction with certain otlier characters, it has led modern zoologists to regard the Golden Moles, notwithstanding their scanty numbers, as constituting a perfectly distinct family of the Insectivora. The skull is shorter, more wedge-shaped, and more elevated at the back than in the true Moles, and the premaxillary bones form a process which is curiously turned outwards (see figure, p
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. .M OF GOLDEN MOLE. •which the fore limbs associated; but the structure of the mechanism by which their burrowing is effected is so different that, taken in conjunction with certain otlier characters, it has led modern zoologists to regard the Golden Moles, notwithstanding their scanty numbers, as constituting a perfectly distinct family of the Insectivora. The skull is shorter, more wedge-shaped, and more elevated at the back than in the true Moles, and the premaxillary bones form a process which is curiously turned outwards (see figure, p. 365), but this does not ran to the extremity of the snout, which is supported by car- tilages. The dentition is very peculiar. The total number of teeth is either thirty-six or forty, one species Jiaving two molars less in each jaw than the others; the front upper pair are large and pyramidal in form, presenting some resemblance to the corr-esponding teeth in the Desmans; these are followed on each side by three minute teeth, and these again by five or six true molars, of prismatic fonn. In the lower jaw there are two pairs of front teeth, followed on each side by three small pointed teeth (premolars), and by four or five tiiie molars. The structure of the anterior limb, and of the i)arts which support it, is peculiar and characteristic, differing materially from that which obtains in the true Moles. In the sternum there are seven similar pieces, which receive the extremities of ribs, and behind these a semi-cartilaginous piece, called the ensiform (or sword-like) appendage. In front of the rib-receiving pieces is a large bone (the manubrium), excavated on each side behind to receive the ends of the collar-bones, and furnished along its lower surface with a ridge serving for the attachment of a part of the powerful muscles by re moved. The foi-m of this part is very difierent from that of the corresponding piece in the Mole (see p. 368). The form and mode of articulation of
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