CRITICAL NOTICES OF NJEW PUBLICATIONS. 151 



pel*. He also introduced into the passage near the end, a horn, with the 

 mouth-piece standing out of the ground. Then, wailing till he was sure of 

 the Mole's presence at that part of the road, he blew into the horn, to use 

 the words or Geoifroy, ' un cri effroyabky when, in a moment, the little flags 

 were successively thrown off as the Mole, in its rapid course towards its for- 

 tress, came in contact with the interior extremities of the straws : and the 

 spectators of this neat and demonstrative experiment affirm that the speed 

 of the frightened Mole was equal to that of a horse at full trot" — p. 95. 



Such an infernal noise within so confineda space was surely enough 

 to have frightened all the Moles for miles round ! The Mole, 

 however, makes no attempt at such extraordinary speed when sur- 

 prised above ground, feeling himself out of his element, and remain- 

 ing passive, as we have witnessed, till taken. This may, perhaps, 

 arise from the glare of day being too much for him, as, below deck, 

 he in reality turns day into night, working diligently by night and 

 in the early morning hours, and sleeping profoundly during the 

 greatest part of the day. 



We have often been struck by perceiving numerous fresh-turned 

 mole-hills in places entirely surrounded with water, but it appears 

 that this is to be accounted for by our friend's swimming propensi- 

 ties ; for a friend of Mr. Bell assures him *' he has seen Moles 

 swimming very featly when the marshes in that neighbourhood 

 have been inundated." Mr. Bell has given the provincial name of 

 ^' Want" as applied to the Mole, but though this may be, perhaps, 

 orthographically correct, in the midland counties it is commonly 

 called " Oont," the double o being pronounced as in moon. There 

 is no British animal whose movements so certainly indicate a change 

 of weather as the Mole, though this fact is no otherwise indicated 

 by Mr. Bell than by the remark that " in the winter, when the 

 frost has penetrated deeply into the soil, and the ordinary hunting 

 grounds are rendered useless and impracticable, it descends to a con- 

 siderable depth by a perpendicular shaft, till it arrives at the part 

 to which the earth-worms have been driven by the cold." When, 

 however, the frost is about to break up, and previous to a single at- 

 mospherical demonstration of it, a fresh-turned mole-hill will always 

 irrefragably prove that the northern tyrant is gone off, leaving his 

 camp, equipage, and icy materiel behind. The same appearance 

 presages rain. Mr. Bell does not say what altitude the Mole at- 

 tains in his peregrinations, which it would be curious to ascertain, 

 as we have noticed him at nearly two thousand feet, and very likely 

 he may advance higher. The Mole is found in every kind of soil 

 throughout England and the continent of Europe, but not in the 

 islands of Orkney, Shetland, or Ireland, for which as yet no satisfac- 

 tory solution has been given. Deep-rooted prejudice among farmers 

 is the cause of annual destruction to multitudes of Moles, but, his 

 aliment being almost entirely worms, we confess we should consider 

 him as very little to be regarded as an enemy, except in gardens. 



We have dwelt at some length upon the Mole because, in doing 

 so, we consider ourselves as passing the highest praise upon Mr. 



