THE TRUE MOLES 343 



Since the voracity of the mole is proverbial, and its food consists exclusively of 

 earthworms, insects, and their larvae, its visits ought to be welcomed alike by the 

 farmer and the gardener. As a matter of fact, however, the mole has an awkward 

 habit of driving its tunnels below the drilled rows of young farm and garden crops, 

 by which not only are the roots of the plants disturbed, but the whole row may be 

 dried up. Moreover, it appears pretty certain that field voles will take advantage 

 of runs driven in such localities as convenient points from which to make inroads 

 on the sprouting seeds or the roots of the young plants. Then, again, in addition 

 to the unsightliness of a host of molehills in a garden, such elevations are incon- 

 venient in a field of standing grass, as they impede the process of mowing. From 

 these and other circumstances, farmers and gardeners generally unite in a war of 

 extermination against the mole, although there can be no doubt but that in many 

 respects its visits are a distinct advantage to its destroyers. 



It is well known that male moles are more numerous than females, and this 

 seems to be explained by a writer in the Field newspaper, who states that a family 

 " of moles appears to consist of five members, in the proportion of four males to one 

 female this as a rule, though with many exceptions. In the course of my expe- 

 rience I have never caught more than five in succession in the same run ; and this, 

 therefore, appears to be the limit." It is well known that moles have the habit of 

 feeding at regular hours during the day, and that they may be found at work at 

 eight, twelve and four o'clock. In regard to mole-catching, it is mentioned that, 

 "when setting a trap in light, crumbling soil, as in a flower bed, care should be 

 taken to remove only sufficient earth to allow of the trap being put in, and the hole 

 leading each way should be carefully cleared, so as to allow the mole a free passage, 

 or he will infallibly dive underneath your trap. A piece of slate put at the bottom 

 of the run is a good preventive of this kind of thing. ' ' I,ike their North Ameri- 

 can relatives, moles swim well, and will take to the water readily. 



According to Mr. Blanford, the short-tailed mole, which is abundant near the 

 Himalayan station of Darjiling, at elevations of from about five thousand to eight 

 thousand feet above the sea level, "inhabits the deep bed of black vegetable mold 

 found wherever the original forest has not been destroyed. This mould contains 

 earthworms and larvae of insects, the chief food of moles, in abundance. Jerdon 

 noticed that the runs of T. micrura often proceeded from the base of one great oak 

 to that of another. Such runs are not marked by molehills, as in the case of the 

 European species." 



Fossil moles are found throughout the Tertiary strata of Europe 

 from the Upper Eocene deposits of Central France. As far down as 

 the succeeding Lower Miocene beds these extinct species seem to belong to the 

 existing genus Talpa, but the Upper Eocene species, on account of the arm bone 

 (humerus) being rather less expanded, has been regarded as representing a distinct 

 genus, Protalpa. The occurrence of these Tertiary moles is interesting, as they 

 show how extremely ancient must be the insectivorous type of Mammals, since even 

 at those early epochs the remarkable peculiarities distinctive of the skeletons of 

 the existing members of the group had already attained their nearly complete 

 development. 



