THE INSECTIVOKA. 39 



ring at the centre, from which they taper to either end. On 

 the head and belly these spines are replaced by coarse 

 yellow bristles. In colour, hedgehogs show considerable 

 variation, and perfectly white examples are on record. 

 The ears and neck of this animal are short, as are also the 

 legs, the feet having five toes armed with strong curved 

 claws The weight of a live grown hedgehog now in 

 possession of a friend of Mr Harting's is i^ Ib. Being 

 unable to find any record of the hedgehog's weight, I 

 persuaded Mr Harting to have this one weighed specially. 



2. THE MOLE. 



Although partial to the interesting little Mole, which, 

 like the Californian black ant among insects, is for its size 

 about the strongest of its class, I have always 

 * a ^ been careful not to spoil its case by pretend- 

 ing that its offences are altogether imaginary. 

 They are at any rate light. From February onward it 

 may undermine the potato-bed, and later in the year it 

 may even disturb the even surface of the cricket-pitch or 

 tennis-court, or, worse still, chase grubs through the drills 

 of young turnips. Nor can it claim to be the friend of the 

 gardener by reason of its destruction of myriads of earth- 

 worms, for gardeners of the present enlightened age know 

 well that the erst-despised worm has its uses in nature's 

 economy. At the same time, much of their work, which 

 consists for the most part in turning over the clogged soil, 

 is accomplished by their devourer, which also consumes 

 vast quantities of such noxious creatures as the wireworm 

 and larva of the "daddy long-legs," known in England as 

 " leather grub," in Scotland as " pout." 



The mole also devours mice, shrews, small reptiles, and 

 frogs, but is said to draw the line at the toad. It has also 

 been described as laying up a store of worms 

 for the winter in an underground pit, a state- 

 ment which is, however, open to considerable doubt, as 



