granulated underneath. The sides are narrow, and present a conspicuous callous tubercle, posterior to the origin of the little toe. The hind legs are very short, and are clothed with soft brown hair, a tuft of which curves over the heel There are no hairs on the sides of the hind feet like those which The hind toes are longer than the fore ones, and are armed with

form a margin to the fore ones.

more slender claws, which are white, awl-shaped, curved, and acute.

The last Order of the Insect Eaters was long since established by Linnæus.

THE COMMON MOLE.+

THIS creature is La Taupe of the French, Talpa of the ancient and modern Italians, Topo of the Spanish, Toupeira of the Portuguese, Maulwerf of the Germans, Mol of the Dutch, Mulvad and Surk of the Swedes, Muldoarp of the Danes, Mole, Mole-Warp, Mold-Warp, and Want, of the modern British, and Gwadd and Turch Daear of the ancient British.

The skull is elongated and pointed, and there is a peculiar bone, designed to assist in penetrating the ground. The part which extends from the internal side of the jaws, terminates in three points, the one in the middle larger and more distant from the external edge than the other two.

The wide hand, as the fore hand might be called, which is the great instrument of action, and performs the offices of a pickaxe and shovel, is sharp-edged on its lower margin, and, when clothed with the integuments, the fingers are hardly distinguishable; but the terminating claws, which project, are long, strong, flat, and trenchant. While the fore paws are turned upwards and backwards, for scooping the soil, the feet are employed to throw it out with great quickness behind the animal. These mining operations are aided by the motions of the head, which is lifted with great power, so as to loosen the ground above, and overcome the resistance that may be opposed to the progress of the animal. There is a special provision that no impediment might be offered to these motions of the head. Large muscles are also provided for bending the head backwards on the neck; and they are assisted by a cervical ligament of great strength, which is generally in part ossified.

PAWS OF THE MOLE.

Let us compare, for a moment, the bats with the moles, as to their locomotion. Though both are insectivorous, their structure is widely different. The bat has to winnow its way through the air; the mole has to re-act against a different medium-the earth, and is endowed with a power of moving through it by means of a modification of the locomotive organs adapted to its density. Instead of the lengthened bones of the fore arm, that so well assist the bat to make its

way

with

outstretched wing through the air, the bones are, in this part of the mole's structure, short and compact, to enable it to bore through the dense medium where its life is to be passed. The sternum has a large middle crest, and is prolonged at its extremity into a sharp process, having the figure of a ploughshare, thus affording an extensive surface of attachment for the large pectoral muscles. The development is all anterior. The fore part of the mole forms an elongated cone; the hinder part is narrow and small, and the whole of its proportions are admirably adapted to assist it, so to speak, in flying through the earth. The long and almost round scapula, the expanded humerus, the enormous power, in short, of the anterior extremities, and the great strength and compactness of the fingers, are all perfectly fitted for the service they have to perform.

The organ of sight is almost rudimentary. The little eye is so hidden in the fur, that its very existence was for a long time denied. It appears to be designed for acting only as a warning to the animal on coming into the light; and, indeed, more acute vision would only have been an incumbrance. Though there is no external ear-which would be an impediment in the act of burrowing-the auditory sense is very highly developed, and the tympanum very large. The meatus or channel of hearing in this animal, which lives habitually in the soil, is defended by the smallness of the external opening. John Hunter observes that an external concha is not to be found in many animals whose life is principally led under ground, such as the mole, and perhaps, because the earth assists considerably in vibration. In the external orifices of the ears and the eyes bristles are placed.

The muzzle of the mole is evidently a delicate organ of touch, and that sense is considerably developed in the large and broad hands and feet. The gustatory and olfactory nerves, especially the latter, appear to be very sensitive. Neither is the tail without a considerable share of this susceptibility, to warn the animal of the approach of any attack from behind.

"The skin," says Pennant, "is most excessively compact, and so tough as not to be cut but with a very sharp knife; the hair is very close set, and softer than the finest silk; the usual colour is black, but there are instances of these creatures being spotted, and a cream-coloured head is sometimes found in my lands near Downing." To the soft, short-cut, velvety coat of the mole, no particle of the soil ever adheres.

The length of the head and body is four inches, three lines; of the head, one inch, six lines; of the tail, two inches, six lines; including the pencil of hairs at its extremity, it is three inches, three lines; the naked part of the nose, exclusive of the awl-shaped processes, two lines and a half.

The principal point of the mole's domain, which is the habitation, or, as it has been termed, the fortress, is constructed under a considerable hillock, raised in some secure place, often at the root of a tree, under a bank, or any spot offering protection. The fortress has a dome of earth, which has been beaten and compressed by the architects into a compact and solid state.

Within, a circular gallery is formed at the base, and communicates with a smaller upper gallery by means of five passages, which are nearly at equal distances. Within the lower and under the upper of these galleries, is the chamber or dormitory, which has access to the upper gallery through three similar passages. From this habitation, it should be observed, the high road by which the mole reaches the opposite end of the encampment extends, and the various galleries or excavations open into this road, which the mole is continually carrying out and extending in its search for food, and which has been termed its hunting ground.

But, to return to the chamber. From it another road extends, the direction of which is downward at first, and that for several inches, when it again rises to open into the high road of the territory. Some eight or nine other passages open out from the external circular gallery, but the orifices of these never come opposite to the passages which connect the external gallery with the internal and upper gallery. The extent of these passages is greater or less, according to circumstances, and they each return by an irregular and semicircular route, opening at various distances from the habitation into the high road, which differs considerably from all the other passages and excavations, both in construction and with regard to the use to which it is applied.

From the habitation this road is carried out nearly in a straight line, and forms the main passage between the habitation, the different portions of the encampment, and the alleys leading to the hunting ground, which opens into it on each side. In diameter it exceeds the body of a mole, but its size will not admit of two moles passing each other. The walls, from the reiterated pressure of the mole's sides

against them, become smooth and compact, and its course is remarkable for the comparative absence of mole-hills, which are frequent in connection with the alleys and quarries, as they have been termed, in constructing which the earth is removed out of the way to the surface.

Sometimes a mole will lay out a second, or even a third, road, to facilitate the extension of its operations. Sometimes several individuals use one road in common, though they never trespass on

each other's hunting grounds. In the event of common usage, if two moles should happen to meet, one must retreat into the nearest alley, unless both should be pugnacious, in which case the weaker one is slain.

In forming this tunnel, the mole's instinct supplies the place of science, for he arives it to a greater or lesser depth, according to the quality of the soil, or concurrent circumstances. When there is nothing superincumbent threatening a disturbance of its security, it is often excavated at a depth of some four or five inches; but if it is carried under a road, or a stream, a foot and a half of earth, sometimes more, is left above it. Thus can the little animal carry on his works, which are necessary for his support, travelling, and comfort; and his tunnels, unlike ours, never fall in.

The alleys opening out from the sides of the high roads have generally a somewhat downward inclination from their commencement towards their end. It has been observed that when, on opening one of these alleys, a plentiful supply of food is found, the mole proceeds to work out branch alleys from its termination, upheaving new mole-hills as it advances in quest of prey. Should, however, the soil be barren of the means of subsistence, the mole commences another alley at a different part of the high road. The quality and humidity of the soil, which regulate the abundance of earth-worms, determine the greater or lesser depth of the valleys.

Besides these excavations, the moles pursue another mode of hunting in loose soils, newly sown, when gentle rains have led the earth-worms towards the surface, along which they follow the worms up, rapidly digging a shallow trench in the superficial layer of the soil. The female, when with young, is said to be chiefly addicted to this easier mode of subsistence.

As the voracity of the mole makes it a great drinker, it secures for itself a proportionate supply of water. If a pond or ditch be at hand, in those cases where several moles use the same common highway, a run is always formed to the reservoir; when it is too distant, the mole sinks little wells in the shape of deep little shafts, which hold water. These wells have sometimes been seen brim-full.

The most diligent observer and instructive historian of the mole is Henri le Court. Flying from the terrors of the French Revolution, he buried himself in the country, and from being an attendant on royalty became the biographer of this humble animal. M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, one of the most illustrious naturalists of France, visited him for the purpose of testing his observations, and he appears to have been greatly delighted by the ingenuity and facility with which Le Court traced and demonstrated the subterranean labours of this primitive engineer.

An experiment made by Le Court afforded ample proof of the rapidity with which the mole will travel through the passages it has made. He watched his opportunity, and when the animal was out on its feed, at one of the most distant points from its fortress, to which the mole's high road leads, Le Court placed along the course of that road between the mole and the fortress, several little flags, with small pieces of paper attached to straws, at certain distances, the straws penetrating downwards into the passage. Near the end of the subterranean road he inserted a horn, the mouth-piece of which stood out of the ground. When all was ready, Le Court blew a blast loud enough to frighten all the moles within hearing from their propriety, and the mole, whose presence at the spot he had well ascer tained, sympathised in the panic. Down went the first little flag, and one after another followed with astonishing celerity, as the horror-struck mole came in contact with the flag-straws in his rush towards the fortress; indeed, the spectators affirmed that its swiftness was equal to that of a horse at a good round trot.

The auditory and travelling powers of the mole were successfully tested by this experiment, while another equally proved that the vision of the animal is amply sufficient for its wants. Le Court took a spare water-pipe, open at both ends, and into it he introduced several moles, successively. At the farther end of the tube stood Geoffroy St. Hilaire, to watch the result. So long as the spectators stood perfectly still, the introduced mole made the best of its way through the pipe and escaped; but if they moved, or even raised a finger, the mole stopped, and then retreated. experiment had precisely the same issue.

Several repetitions of the

though from three to six have been The nest is distinct, usually distant when a hillock exists, it is much

The female produces generally from four to five young ones, recorded, and, in one instance, seven have been found in one nest. from the habitation, and not always covered with a hillock; but larger than an ordinary mole-hill. It is constructed by enlarging and excavating the point where three or four passages intersect each other; and the bed of the nest is formed of a mass of young grass, root-fibres, and herbage. MM. Geoffroy St. Hilaire and Le Court counted in one nest two hundred and four wheat-blades.

Mr. Arthur Bruce communicated to the "Linnæan Transactions" the following fact:-"On visiting the Loch of Clunie, which I often did, I observed in it a small island, at the distance of one hundred and eighty yards from the nearest land, measured to be so upon the ice. Upon the island, the Earl of Airlie, the proprietor, has a castle and small shrubbery. I remarked frequently the appearance of fresh mole-casts or hills. For some time I took them for those of the water-mouse, and one day asked the gardener if it were so. No, he said, it was the mole; and that he had caught one or two lately. Five or six years ago he caught two in traps, and for two years after this he had observed

none.

But about four years ago, coming ashore one summer's evening in the dusk, he and the Earl of Airlie's butler saw, at a short distance, on the smooth water, some animal paddling towards this land. They soon closed with this feeble passenger, and found it to be a common mole, led by a most astonishing instinct from the castle hill, the nearest point of land, to take possession of this desert island. It had been, at the time of my visit, quite free from any subterraneous inhabitant; but the mole has, for more than a year past, made its appearance again, and its operations I have since been witness to." Other facts of the same kind were subsequently adduced; and it is now generally admitted that the mole is a good swimmer.

Le Court established a school for mole-catching, and taught many, what he had acquired by incessant perseverance, the art of tracing the mole to his hiding place in the ground, and cutting off his retreat. Various modes have been adopted by others. Some years ago, there was a man who travelled through the country with a dog, and destroyed moles without the use of a trap. At the proper time and place for his craft, he took his station, armed with a spear or spud, waited till the dog indicated the presence of the mole, and then immediately killed it with his weapon. In this instance the dog was an essential help. Pointers will stop at moles as steadily as at game, when the latter are straying on the surface.

The common mole-catcher, like the rat-catcher, belongs to a dubious class of persons, who prefer a half-lazy life to the varied and honourable toils of the farm labourer. And yet the old proverb, suggesting the pains to which idle people put themselves, has some illustration in his career. As his occupation is confined to those seasons when it does not materially interfere with the crops, his traps cannot be set for several months together, and the frost of winter often prevents the pursuit of his calling, or interferes with its success. If then, by any means, he can eke out a subsistence, he may cherish his indolence as he lists. But let him obtain a job, and then truly is it no joke; for, exclusive of the labour and delay in setting his traps, he frequently walks more than twenty miles a day; and this, for the most part, neither along good roads nor well-beaten paths, but over hedge and ditch, from farm to farm, and from field to field, on the lands of the owner or the occupier who contracts with him to destroy the moles.

It is singular that this work should not be undertaken by persons living in the neighbourhood of the places where their services are sought. Yet over a considerable extent of Scotland, as well as of Wales, the moles are destroyed by catchers who belong to some of the northern counties of England. They visit their employers at regular periods of the year, when their appearance is anticipated by the Scotch and Welsh farmers as certainly as the coming of the Irish haymakers and reapers is in the meadows and corn-fields of England. The war they carry on with the moles almost amounts to one of extermination. The numbers that have been annually slaughtered are enormous. Mr. Bell, the eminent naturalist, states that Mr. Jackson, a very intelligent mole-catcher, who had followed the craft for thirty-five years, had destroyed from forty to fifty thousand.

THIS animal, discovered by M. Siebold, in the Isle of Japan, is certainly a distinct species from the mole of Europe, as it has only three pairs of incisors in each jaw. Its habits are, however, precisely the

same.

Talpa wogura.