Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvii. (1903), No. 4. 23 



Cadet de Vaux speaks quite correctly when he says 

 that the long straight runs are those made by the males 

 and the winding tunnels those made by the females. 

 This I have repeatedly tested by trapping. 



The female makes a separate fortress and nest in 

 which to bring forth her young. This is usually much 

 more simply constructed than the fortress of the male, 

 and seldom possesses a bolt-run. 



Though Cadet de Vaux says, without hesitation, that 

 moles live in pairs in the habitation of the male till the 

 female leaves her spouse to prepare her nursery, I am by 

 no means convinced that this is the case. I have never 

 been able to trap a female in or close to a male's fortress, 

 and if we are to judge from the analogy of the rabbit (which 

 makes a separate nursery, presumably to protect her 

 young from the voracious father or fathers), we may 

 suppose the mole to be polyandrous. 



As far as my information goes, no mammal prepares 

 a nursery till well advanced in pregnancy ; if this holds 

 good with regard to the mole, six weeks is nearer the 

 actual period of gestation than one month, as some 

 fortresses from which I have taken the young have been 

 made about one month previously. 



Number of Litters ; Time of breeding. 



Hitherto it has been a matter of speculation as to 

 whether the female has one or more litters a year. 

 I believe that the following evidence is sufficient to enable 

 us to assert that only one litter is brought forth. 



Dissection of hundreds of moles at all times of the 

 year shows that an enormous development of testes, 

 prostate, and corpus spongiosum takes place in the male, 

 commencing late in January, and culminating about the 



