THE REASON WHY : 



M Pray you, tread softly, that the blind moii- iuay not 

 Hear a foot fall ! " SUAKSPERE. 



cither under J bank, against the foundation of a wall, at the root of a tree, or in 

 tome similar legality. The earth of which the dome covering this curious 

 i\ ibitation is con-posed is rendered exceedingly strong and solid by being pressed 

 t id beaten by the mole in forming it. It contains a circular gallery within the 

 t; isc, which communicates with a smaller one above by five nearly equidistant 

 passages ; and the domicile or chamber is placed within the lower and beneath the 

 upper circular gallery, to which last it has access by three similar passages. From 

 t'.ie chamber extends another road, the direction of which is at first downwards 

 for several inches ; it then rises again, to open into the high-road of the oncarip- 

 ment. From the external circular gallery open about nine other passages, the 

 aripces of which are never formed opposite to those which connect the outer with 

 the inner and upper gallery : these extend to a greater or less distance, and return, 

 each taking an irregular, semi-circular route, and opening into the high-road at 

 various distances from the fortress. Such is a very hasty description of this most 

 singular structure ; and nothing surely can be imagined more admirably calculated 

 to ensure the security or the retreat of the inhabitant than such an arrangement of 

 internal routes of communication as this. The chamber communicating beneath 

 directly with the road, and above with the upper gallery this with the lower by 

 five passages, and the latter again with the road by no less than nine exhibit 

 altogether a complication of architecture which may rival the more celebrated 

 erections of the beaver." The nest is always distinct, and frequently remote from 

 the fortress, and is usually, but not always, covered by a hillock, v hich, when it 

 exists, is much larger than an ordinary mole-hill. It is formed simply by 

 excavating and enlarging the point of intersection by three or four passages. The 

 bad of the nest is composed of a mass of herbage, grass, roots, or leaves. In one 

 which was examined by Geoffrey and Le Court, no less than two hundred and four 

 blades of young wheat were counted. This, however, can scarcely be considered as 

 an ordinary occurrence, as they generally prefer dry and soft substances. The 

 period of gestation is supposed to be about two months or upwards ; and the young 

 are brought forth in April sometimes earlier, at others later, according to the 

 season : indeed, young moles have been found at all times from the beginning of 

 April till August, which has led some persons to believe that there are more than 

 one brood in the year. There are generally four or five, sometimes as few as three, 

 rarely six.* 



197. Why were moles once thought to be destitute of eyes? 



Because, as organs of sight, if highly developed, would not only 

 be useless to a burrowing animal, but a hindrance to its mining 

 operations, the eyes are simply rudimentary, and are so hidden in 

 th<? fur that their existence was for a lonsr time doubted. 



Maunder's " Treasury of Natural IIi?iory.' 



