UTILITY OF THE MOLE. 161 



to Le Court^ the notorious French Mole-catcher, who is said to have destroyed, 

 in the short space of five months, no loss than six thousand, and that within 

 a small district j and that two of his pupils, during the month that they were 

 under his instructions, killed nine hundred and seventy one: we have acted 

 enough of this wanton butchery. It is almost as foul as the late butchery 

 at Sinope, which will for ever remain a stain that time, that great destroyer 

 of human art, will never efface from European History. To use the words 

 of the Kev. C. A. Bury, in his interesting notes on the ^'Mammalia of the 

 Isle of Wight:" — ^'Man is too fond of meddling, and often blunders to his 

 own cost. In his attempts at improvement he only disturbs the balance of 

 creation. Granted that occasionally some species of animal, favoured by circum- 

 stances, either the scarcity of its appointed check (occasioned, perhaps, by the 

 meddling hand of man,) or a superabundance of its natural food, may increase 

 beyond due bounds, and so require the interposition of human force or skill, 

 let that force and skill be then exerted^ but I believe that this would be 

 seldom necessary, things would right themselves. They have been generally 

 found to do so, unless man has carried his meddling propensities to the extent 

 of utterly extirpating the appointed check, for it seems to be a law of creation, 

 that where there is food, there will be provided that which feeds on it, and 

 that in just proportion. The Mole is evidently an appointed check to the 

 undue increase of the earth-worm; it not only devours numbers itself, but by 

 its burrowing, drives to the surface many more, which, in their attempt to 

 escape the Mole, fall a prey to the Robin and the Thrush, The earth-worm, 

 unquestionably has its uses, in drawing vegetable substances beneath the surface, 

 and so the gases that are released in the process of decomposition, and which 

 would otherwise be lost, are preserved for the nutriment of the growing plant, 

 while the portion devoured by the worm is again thrown to the surface in 

 the form best adapted for the nutriment of the plant above ground. Thus, 

 then, all is well arranged by Divine Wisdom; but if man steps in, throttles 

 the Mole, and shoots and snares the birds, he must, if he carries his interference 

 far, produce a disturbance among God's works, to his own detriment." Not- 

 withstanding the universal ban under which this useful and innocent animal 

 lies, so bountifully does the Almighty supply its wants, and facilitate its increase, 

 that it still remains one of the most numerous of all our British quadrupeds. 

 Although the Mole is frequently seen above ground, its province is essentially 

 below the surface; there it lives, and moves, and has its being; there it 

 procures its food; there it constructs its dwelling; and there it brings forth 

 its young, with a care that would make many a christian blush. If we scan 

 the almost infinite variety of nature's works, we shall not find a more admirable 

 instance of adaptation than is afibrded by this little animal to its subterranean 

 abode. 



5, Middle Street^ Taunton. 



(To be Continued. J 



