Manchester Alemoirs, Vol. xlvii. (1903), No. 4. 19 



the grass at the surface, yet in this formation the runs are 

 always very deep, often nearly a foot below the surface 

 and very wide. As a rule, the softer the soil the nearer 

 are the runs to the surface. 



I have not been able to actually see how a mole 

 pushes the soil out of the ground in making a heap, but I 

 fancy this is performed by using the snout and top of the 

 head, and not backwards by the hind feet as has been 

 asserted. I have often observed that when burrowing on 

 the surface, a mole, while working with his front paws, 

 always keeps lowering and raising his head to clear the 

 way before him, which the powerful muscles of the neck 

 enable him to do with little exertion. Imagine the 

 position requisite for the mole 3 or 4 inches below the 

 surface to kick out backwards the large mass of earth 

 which often comes out solid like a sausage. Besides, the 

 set of the forelegs would not allow them to give leverage 

 for the backward push. Again, the earth as it rises from 

 below comes in little jerks, exactly corresponding to the 

 raising and lowering of the head as the mole burrows. 



Sexual Characteristics. 



For some time I had been extremely puzzled at 

 the seemingly enormous proportion of males to females 

 among those that I caught or had sent me. The explana- 

 tion, however, was found in the work of Saint-Hilaire, 

 who had himself been puzzled precisely in the same way. 

 As the following facts are not given in any of our English 

 text-books, nor indeed, as far as I know, in any other except 

 that of Saint-Hilaire, and as I suspect they are new to 

 most naturalists, I think them of sufficient interest to be 

 given at length. 



