192 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Moles, and Their Relation to Agricul- 

 ture. 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, 

 WASHINGTON, D. C. 



In the present article it is my purpose 

 to touch upon the natural history of 

 moles, and in what way their presence 

 on the farm may affect the farmer's in- 

 terests — that is, should he regard them 

 as his enemies or as his friends. What 

 I have to say is chiefly from personal ob- 

 servation, as I have, for many years, had 



of these, while in the case of others we 

 still have much to learn about them. 



One of the most striking species is the 

 star-nosed mole. Coiidylura cristata, so 

 called on account of the peculiar fleshy 

 rosette of feelers ornamenting the distal 

 end of its snout. This mole is not 

 very abundant anywhere ; and, owing to 

 its habits and to its being a semi-aqua- 

 tic swamp species, it is but rarely ob- 

 served. I have never seen but three of 

 them in mv life. One of these was a 







C4; 



A COMMON MOLE CAPTURED NEAR WASHINGTON, D. C. 



the Opportunity to study moles in na- 

 ture, in the museums, and in my own 

 laboratory. The two photographs from 

 which the cuts that illustrate this article 

 were made were taken by myself of a 

 specimen of a common mole, captured 

 near Washington, and presented to me 

 by Mr. Edward S. Schmid of that city. 

 It was an adult male of the species 

 found in the eastern part of the United 

 States, Scalopus a. aquaticus, and its 

 skeleton now forms a part of my private 

 cabinet. It will be a surprise to some to 

 learn that we have so many different 

 kinds of moles in this country, although 

 they all belong to the same family, Tal- 

 pidae. Most naturalists recognize four 

 genera of them, and these four genera 

 together contain no fewer than twenty 

 different species and sub-species of these 

 interesting little animals We are fairly 

 well acquainted with the habits of some 



dead specimen ; another escaped me af- 

 ter an exciting chase, while a third I 

 captured alive on the border of a swamp 

 near Stamford, Connecticut, and had the 

 opportunity to study it for a short time. 



Brewer's mole has never been seen 

 alive by me, nor any of the Pacific Coast 

 forms of the genus Neiirotrichus, or, 

 indeed, any living examples of the com- 

 mon mole of Europe, Talpa curopaca; 

 so the present account may be said to 

 apply only to the eastern United States 

 species, and to such other species as 

 chance to agree in their habits. 



All moles belong in the order Inscctiv- 

 ora. where they are, in this country, as- 

 sociated with the shrews, of which in- 

 teresting little animals there are a great 

 many kinds. Our common mole does not 

 appear to be particularly abundant in 

 any locality, though it is fairly so in 

 many parts of its ranges. Every farmer 



