Habits of the Mole, 103 



Art. XII. Short Communications. 

 Mammiferous Animals. — The Mole (Yalpaeuropda). — 



" Descending now (but cautious, lest too fast,) 

 A sudden steep, upon a rustic bridge 

 We pass a gulf, in which the willows dip 

 Their pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink. 

 Hence, ankle deep in moss and flowery thyme, 

 We mount again, and feel at every step 

 Our foot half sunk in hillocks green and soft, 

 Raised by the mole, the miner of the soil. 

 He, not unlike the great ones of mankind, 

 Disfigures earth ; and, plotting in the dark, 

 Toils much to earn a monumental pile, 

 That may record the mischiefs he has done." 



Cowper's Task, book i. 



The Mole (Tdlpa europ<za). — The life of the mole is 

 passed in such a gloomy region, separated from the light of 

 heaven, and the creature is regarded with such scorn by the 

 illustrious bipeds of the earth, that we are tempted to regard 

 its history as uninteresting : and yet, on examination, I find 

 it the contrary. I procured a couple of lively moles, that had 

 not been at all injured, and placed them in a birdcage with 

 some straw, with the intention of minutely examining their 

 actions. The snout, at this time, appeared moist, capable of 

 great variety of action, and endued with fine sensibility ; and 

 the anterior parts of the body (head, chest, and arms) ca- 

 pable of quick motion, at short turns, under the skin, as if 

 muscular motion were independent of the motion of the 

 integuments. They, when placed in the cage, immediately 

 buried themselves, heaving up the straw as they proceeded : 

 the lifting was effected chiefly by the force of the hands and 

 arms; a little by the back of the head, but not at all by the 

 snout. The hinder legs have but little force, except for pro- 

 gression ; but they are not unfrequently employed to scratch 

 the body. In the forward half of the body it is probable 

 that this animal exerts more force, in proportion to its size, 

 than any other creature in existence. For several hours this 

 pair were exceedingly active, but they were unable to climb ; 

 and, in passing each other beneath the straw, they seemed 

 to be quarrelsome, the conquered sending forth a stri- 

 dulus squeak. When, at last, one of this pair effected its 

 escape, it was by turning the wire backward, not by thrusting 

 [it] before it. It then passed through a hole in the floor, 

 and finally through a crevice in the stone step leading to the 

 street, thrusting much earth before it. From the orifice thus 

 opened, it passed over 5 ft. or 6 ft. of the pavement, and then 

 began to burrow ; but as often as an attempt was made to 



h 4? 



