1900-1901.| The Mole. 151 
earth, its body is nearly cylindrical. The snout is long and 
wedge-shaped. Nature, by adaptation and modification, is 
ever adjusting its creatures to their ends, and nowhere are its 
operations more excellently displayed than in the mole. It is 
generally thought the common mole has no eyes. This, how- 
ever, is an error. But as the sense of sight is not required in 
its method of living, the eyes, which are very minute, are 
hardly discerned, though none the less there, and they can 
readily be observed in the embryos which are now exhibited. 
The external ears on first view would seem also to be conspicu- 
ous by their absence, but closer inspection reveals their pres- 
ence. It is supposed that the senses of hearing, smell, and 
taste are very acute and highly developed. 
The head is connected with the body by no perceptible 
neck. In proportion to the animal, its two front paws are 
enormous. They are broad and flat, having five digits, each 
armed with a sharp, curved claw. Used by the animals for 
digging, they are not covered with fur, and the slight hairiness 
| on the back of the foot which is present in the young is very 
soon destroyed, and the skin thus left bare becomes very tough. 
_ They are turned slightly outwards, and are admirably fitted 
_ for burrowing. The hind feet, which have also five sharp 
claws, are used chiefly for propelling the animal, and conse- 
quently they are not broad like the front paws. In the young 
the hind feet are very like those of the mouse, and when on 
the surface of the ground the young moles really gallop. In 
_the adult they become more adapted to their ultimate use. A 
small stump of a tail about an inch long, covered with fur 
and tipped with a few white hairs, completes the mole’s ex- 
ternal appearance. 
The mole is relegated to insectivorous mammals because of 
its dentition. As the hedgehog belongs also to the Insectivores, 
nd is larger, I have exhibited a skull of that animal, from 
which you will see the molar teeth are furnished with numer- 
ous small pointed eminences for crushing insects. If you take 
a look at the other teeth of the moles exhibited, you will 
Observe they are very sharp. I will not trouble you with 
the anatomy of the mole, which can be got from any text- 
book, but I should like to draw your attention to two points. 
First, to the humerus bone, of which a specimen is exhibited. 
