Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvii. (1903), ISlo. 4. 25 



end of March or beginning of April when pairing takes 

 place. After this date these organs decrease in size, till 

 by the end of May they have regained their normal size, 

 and retain it for the rest of the year (Fi^s. 25 and 26). 



In the case of the female a similar enlargement takes 

 place of the vagina and uterus corresponding with the 

 organs of the male in time of waxing, culminating and 

 waning, and disappearing when the litter is cast (F/^s. 

 21 — 24). 



Thus there is only one short rutting season, practically 

 confined to the latter part of March, April, and perhaps 

 occasionally the beginning of May, after which both sexes 

 are completely exhausted. The earliest personal record 

 I have for a foetal litter (which was within 3 or 4 days of 

 birth) is April 13, and the latest young I have seen in the 

 nest were taken on June 25. These were quite ready to 

 leave the nest. 



Thus, calculating that the period of gestation is four 

 weeks (and I think it is rather more), it is evident that the 

 female would not have time to breed twice within the 

 the period mentioned during which young are found, even 

 if she were in condition to do so, which she is not. More- 

 over, these limits are not those of the same year or 

 locality, so they may be fairly curtailed, and a month of 

 courtship may be presumed to be the limit of the mole's 

 capacity. 



Of course it is possible that some young moles of both 

 sexes come into use later than adults and occasionally 

 breed later. Aflalo says,* " I have seen young in August,'' 

 and the Rev. Dr. Grierson says that his informant, Mr. 

 Fletcher, " had seen young in September." 



The only mention that I have come across as to the 

 number of teats is by Blasius, p. 113, who gives the number 



* y4 Sketch of the Natural History ( Vertebrates) of the British Islands. 



