226 DUBLIN UNTVERSITT 



condylura with its star-like muzzle, to supply which enigmatical part 

 the supermaxillary nerves are greatly developed, the scallops, &c, all, 

 however, being very similar in organization to the common mole. This 

 curious creature is admirably furnished with an organ of smell, and with 

 an ear as perfect in its essentials as that of man; but, as is well known, 

 only endowed with a very minute eye, a mere dot, in fact, in all the spe- 

 cies. However, this eye we believe to have a true but minute optic 

 nerve, as described by Cams and Treviranus, and which appears to 

 whiten under the action of alcohol. The brain of the mole, in many 

 respects like that of the Echidna, has, on the other hand, a well-marked 

 corpus callosum. The olfactory bulbs and tracts are ample, and con- 

 nected posteriorly with large hippocampi and the fornix. The anterior 

 commissure is bifurcated on each side, and with extensive connexions. 

 The optic lobes or corpora quadrigemina are fairly developed, though 

 the posterior ones are not so well marked, but still more so, apparently, 

 than they would be, if they were only related to the sense of light. 



An account of the habits of animals should follow the structure of 

 their cerebral organs. The mole, as appears from many observations, 

 is not blind : there is a crystalline lens in the eye of our common 

 species. Much has been written on the habits of this curious little la- 

 bourer. A captured one was tied by one of its hindlegs, and allowed 

 a longish tether, when it worked its way into the soil with almost as 

 little effort as a fish swims in water. When it found a worm, it com • 

 menced most heartily to eat it. When a live one was placed before it, 

 it certainly did not at first notice it, but it soon became aware of its 

 presence, examined it, and then bit it about half an inch from its head, 

 and lastly, beginning at that extremity, took it in gradually, in dif- 

 ferent lengths, by a sort of suction, carefully cleaning each portion with 

 its curious paws. In central England this animal is only known to the 

 people by the Saxon name Mouldiwarpe (turner up of the soil), whilst its 

 curious little long-snouted congener, the Shrew, is always called Nusrow, 

 also Saxon (nose- shrew). 



A few words, in conclusion, may follow on the habits of two other 

 little animals, the pretty water vole, and the more disagreeable Norway 

 rat With respect to the former, a friend, who is an antiquary, sent 

 me a quantity of its bones, which abound in ancient British barrows, 

 the one from which these specimens were taken being at least a mile 

 from any water : the conclusion therefore is, that the animal (perhaps 



