INSECT-EATING QUADRUPEDS. 67 



ent species. The eyes of the Mole are very small, as it 

 "has but little use for vision ; but its hearing and smell 

 are very acute. Its fur is fine and soft, and it will not 

 retain a particle of dirt, although continually in contact 

 with it. Its fore paws, mounted with strong claws, are 

 powerful instruments for digging. In Fig. 49 you have 

 the bones of one of these paws, 

 which are very large, and are 

 worked by strong muscles. The 

 head is constructed for digging 

 also, the frame of the nose be- 

 ing wholly bone, instead of part 



Fig.49.-ForepawoftheMole. grigtle? ag in mogt ot h er ani- 



mals. The hinder part of the body has not the great 

 strength of the fore part, for the hind feet are not em- 

 ployed in digging. 



109. The plan of a mole-hill is very curious. It has, as 

 you see in the plan in Fig. 50, two circular galleries, one 



above the other, con- 

 nected together by five 

 passages. In the very 

 centre of the mound, 

 and on a level with the 

 ground around it, is a 



Fig. 50. Mole-hill. . , 



circular apartment 



where the Mole sleeps. This is connected by three pas- 

 sages with the upper gallery, and not at all with the lower 

 one. Then there are passages running out from the lower 

 gallery, and into one of these opens a passage from the 

 circular chamber. Just this plan has been instinctively 

 adopted ever since the first mole was created. The food 

 of the Mole is chiefly worms and insects, which it gath- 

 ers by burrowing. The good which the Mole does to 

 the farmer in this way is probably much greater than 

 any harm which his burrowing may sometimes occasion. 



110. The Shrew Mouse, Fig. 51 (p. 68), is so called be- 

 cause it is so much like a Mouse, but it is readily distin- 



