219 



ing, and fresh grass afterwards springing up over the run of the Mole, the ring 



formed appears greener than other parts of the pasture that have not been 



thus revivified. Tennyson noticing this, refers to 



" A foot* that might have danced 

 The greensward into greener circles." 



The decay of agarics about a ring will also cause a fresh and greener appearance 



of the turf in autumn, but more frequently in this case a taller and coarser grass 



is stimulated to grow in the ring at the vernal season, and I have observed the 



circles in which Agaricus gamhosiis flourished in May to be surrounded with 



a tall grass hiding the fungus completely from view, while the turf in the area 



of the ring was quite of a different character. This luxuriant growth of tall 



grass often reveals a ring in a meadow at some distance, and where the circle 



is im complete it bears some resemblance to the tail of a comet, a molehill 



representing the comet itself. 



Then again I have observed long wavy lines in flat meadows, undoubtedly 

 the work of moles, and these at irregular distances were spotted with indi- 

 viduals of the large cup-shaped Agaricus gUvus^ which certainly had nothing to 

 do with the formation of these long sinuous Unes. 



But let me here particularize one case from my journal, to show the close 

 observations I have made, and fifty more might be adduced if necessary. 



" May 16th, 1848. I observed at Salwarp, Worcestershire, a large ring, 

 though not a perfect circle, full fifteen yards in diameter. It commenced in a 

 molehill, and then proceeded to another, and finally took a semicircular sweep 

 nearly back to the molehill fi-om whence it started. The circular track was 

 e%'idently the underground work of a mole, although very near to the surface, 

 and this track was now brown and hare from the very hot weather of the last 

 fortnight. Now, a few weeks ago, I saw in Spetchley Park a similar largo 

 ring covered with rank grass much superior in height to the herbage within it. 

 This rough grass which thus springs up so luxuriantly in the track of the 

 mole, and which does not appear to be eaten, soon withers away, leaving a bare 

 place, on which, after rain, Agarics mostly of one particular species appear in 

 each ring, though various species and even genera of fungi, are adapted to grow 

 in such rings." 



To any one only looking upon some neglected meadow or wide-extending 

 heath, where hundreds of molehills appear scattered about in the most irre- 

 gular manner, it may appear a strain upon credibility to suppose the mole to 

 form arcs and circles in anything like a regular way ; but these common heaps 

 are only thrown up in the process of searching for and feeding upon worms ; and 

 there are times when the little burrower yields to that overpowering principle 

 that impels all animals to the process by which their numbers are increased 

 in the world, and the species they belong to maintained. By recurring to this 

 phase in the mole's history, we shall see how the various phenomena of nature 

 are connected and dove-tailed into each other. 



* This " foot " is that of the little unseen burrowing Mole. 



