efore to the others
belongs the credit of first bringing this curious group to notice.

They regarded it in the light of a true Shrew, disguised in the form
and habits of a squirrel, and they proposed for it the name
_Sorex-Glis_, i.e. Shrew-squirrel (_Glis_ properly means a dormouse,
but Linnaeus used it for his rodential group which he termed
_Glires_); this was afterwards changed by Desmarest and Giebel to
_Gli Sorex_ and _Glisosorex_, which latter stands for one of the
generic terms applied to the group. F. Cuvier, objecting to _Tupaia_,
proposed _Cladobates_ (signifying branch walkers), and Temminck,
also objecting to _Tupaia_, suggested _Hylogale_ (from Gr. _hyla_,
forest, and _gale_, a weasel), so now we have four generic names for
this one small group. English naturalists have however accepted
_Tupaia_; and, as Dr. Anderson fairly remarks, though it is a pity
that some definite rules are not laid down for the guidance of
naturalists for the acceptance or rejection of terms, still those
who reject _Tupaia_ on the ground of its being taken from a savage
tongue should be consistent, and refuse all others of similar origin.
He is quite right; but how many we should have to reject if we did
so--_Siamanga_ in Quadrumana, _Kerivoula_ in Cheiroptera, _Tupaia_
in Insectivora, _Golunda_ in Rodentia, _Rusa_ in Ruminantia, and
others! At the same time these names are wrong; they convey no
meaning; and had they a meaning (which only _Kerivoula_ or
_Kelivoulha_, i.e. plantain-bat, has) it is not expressed in
languages common to all western nations, such as the Latin and Greek.
_Tupaia_ is an unfortunate selection, inasmuch as it does not apply
to one type of animal, but reminds me somewhat of the Madras _puchi_,
which refers, in a general way, to most creeping insects, known or
unknown.

FAMILY TALPIDAE--THE MOLES.

These animals have a small cylindrical body, very short arm attached
to a large shoulder-blade, supported by a stout clavicle or
collar-bone. The fore-feet are of great breadth, supported by the
powerful muscles of the arm; the palm of the foot or hand is directed
outwards or backwards, the lower edge being trenchant, with scarcely
perceptible fingers armed with long, flat nails, strong and sharp,
with which to tear up the ground and shovel the earth aside. The hind
feet are small and weak in comparison, with slender claws. The head
tapers to a point, the long snout being provided with a little bone
which a