INSEOTIVORA 93 



and other injurious larvse. In addition to this^ his 

 burrows and tunnels make very good surface drain- 

 age, and the soft, fine earth he throAvs up in mounds 

 forms excellent dressing for pastures, as ant-hills do, 

 if well scattered in March. This the diligent farmer 

 will do, while the lazy one will curse the moles for 

 breaking his reaping machines and have but a poor, 

 untidy looking pasture into the bargain. 



But in a garden very little can be said for the 

 mole. Those of us who are gardeners can only wish 

 he would keep to his own sphere — the open fields, 

 though exactly why a gamekeeper should destroy 

 moles is not clear, except on the principle prevailing 

 among some unintelligent gamekeepers, of destroying 

 every kind of living thing which is not either a 

 pheasant or a partridge. 



The pelage of the mole is extremely soft and 

 velvety, and the hair, moving as it does in both direc- 

 tions, enables him to run backwards and forwards in 

 his burrow with equal ease. The colour is usually 

 a steely grey, but it is subject to great variation, 

 and we have seen specimens from the fens in Cam- 

 bridgeshire which have varied from almost pure 

 white to a rusty orange colour. 



Common as the mole is, there is still much to be 

 learnt about this animal. For instance, we are un- 

 certain about its power of sight, some even thinking 

 that though it has eyes, yet it is blind. Certainly 

 the eyes are very small, but, as Mr. Millais says, it 

 proceeds boldly in the desired direction after the 

 manner of an animal fully gifted with sight. We 

 know that the mole has a long, pink, fleshy nose, 



