MancJiester Memoirs, Vol. xlvii. (1903), No. 4. 39 



"heaves," in Herefordshire and the western counties as 

 " tumps." 



Under the head of folklore the well-known story of 

 the " trotting horse " must be placed. I suppose no 

 treatise on the mole would be deemed complete without 

 a reference to the experiment which Saint- Hilaire relates 

 as having been performed by Le Court before some 

 friendly witnesses, and which has been solemnly handed 

 down without question or reflection. I have often seen 

 moles try to escape at their best speed. This is a hurried 

 scuttling trot, never faster than a slow walk, i.e., about 

 2^ miles an hour. Granted that this might be slightly 

 exceeded in their accustomed tunnels, we must admire 

 the imagination of those who solemnly assert that 

 " la course d'une taupe pouvait egaler a pen pres en vitesse 

 la marche d'un cheval dans son trot le plus rapide." 



