104 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
summits of the hills; I have myself seen their “ hillocks” at 
fully 1700 feet on the Pentlands, and still higher on the Ochils. 
In the lowlands, where agriculture is at its height, the farmers 
wage an incessant war against it through the medium of the 
professional mole-catcher, but in the upland pastures it is less 
molested, and consequently its habits and economy can be 
there more readily studied. In such outlying districts, on 
the lower slopes of the Pentland and Moorfoot hills, I have 
frequently dug into the large mounds, or fortresses as they 
have been called, containing the snug beds of soft grass in 
which the animals repose during the short intervals from 
Jabour in their subterranean hunting-grounds, but cannot say 
that I have found the number or position of the tunnels with 
which these mounds are pierced, disposed with the mathe- 
matical exactitude invariably ascribed to them on the strength 
of Le Court’s observations. Occasionally a close agreement 
with the well-known illustration is observed, but as a rule 
the departure from it is very considerable. The following 
figure accurately represents the plan of a “fortress,” about 
three feet in diameter, which I dissected a few days ago on 
a moor behind the Dalmahoy hills. I ought to say that my 
attention was first directed to this want of uniformity by 
Mr M‘Leish, mole-catcher, Corstorphine, 
Under gallery communicating dir- Upper gallery opening downwards 
ectly with the central chamber (at the arrows) into the under one, 
and the outside runs. Three which is shown in dotted lines, 
escape-holes lower in the cham- 
ber are shown in dotted lines, 
The voracity of the Mole is well known. A year or two 
ago I placed one at dusk into a deep box in which a quantity 
of earth had stood for a considerable time. An hour after- 
