62 " MAMMALIA. 



as soon as he could obtain a subject. Having finally procured " a 

 full grown, healthy, and vigorous mole " of this species, he goes on 

 to say : " I confined him in a wooden box about two feet square, 

 placing on the bottom six or eight inches depth of earth, and before 

 him a potato, a beet, a carrot, a parsnip, turnip, and an apple. 



" Early next morning I found him exceedingly languid, and ap- 

 parently exhausted, barely able to turn himself over when placed on 

 his back. All the vegetables remained whole — none having been 

 bitten. I then presented him the head and whole neck of a fowl, with 

 the feathers on ; he instantly seized it, and fed upon it with great 

 avidity. I found him the next morning, plump, strong and active — 

 nothing left of the head and neck of the fowl, except the beak, part 

 of the skull, and bones of the neck, the latter being gnawed and 

 stripped of all the flesh. I then left him with a whole chicken about 

 the size of a quail. The next day, I found upon examination, nothing 

 left of the chicken, with the exception of the beak, wing feathers, and 

 a few of the larger bones. I then treated him to the head, neck, and 

 entrails of another fowl. He first devoured the entrails, and after 

 that, the head and neck, with the exceptions as stated in the first in- 

 stance. Satisfied with this course, I changed his regimen on the 

 evening of the 17th, from flesh to cheese, with the addition of 

 potato boiled with meat; the animal was then full and vigorous. 

 The next morning I found him dead — the cheese and potatoes as I 

 had left them, none of which had been eaten. The belly and sides 

 of the mole were much contracted and depressed. 



" Durincr the whole time of his confinement, he had been well 

 supplied with water and ice. The whole of the vegetables put into 

 the box remained unbitten. 



" The result of this experiment has removed from my mind all 

 doubts respecting the character and habits of this singular animal 

 . . . it is clearly not herbivorous, and may be truly ranked 

 among carnivorous animals." * 



* American Journal of Science and Arts, vol. XXVIII, No. i, pp. 169-170. 



