Penfyfaania, Philadelphia. 145 



as Philadelphia, for which reafon there can he na 

 navigation on it. To-day I made forne defcrip- 

 tions and remarks on fuch plants as the cattle 

 liked, or fuch as they never touched. 



I OBSERVED feveral little fubterraneous walks 

 in the fields, running under ground in various 

 directions, the opening of which was big enough 

 for a mole : the earth, which formed as it were a 

 vault above it, and lay elevated like a little bank, 

 was near two inches high, full as broad as a man's 

 hand, and about two inches thick. In unculti- 

 vated fields I frequently faw thefe fubterraneous 

 walks, which difcovered themfelves by the ground 

 thrown up above them, which when trod upon 

 gave way, and made it inconvenient to walk in 

 the field. 



THESE walks are inhabited by a kind of mole,* 

 which I intend to defcribe more accurately in 

 another work. Their food is commonly roots : 

 I have obferved the following qualities in one 

 which was caught. It had greater ftiffnefs and 

 flrength in its legs, than I ever obferved in other 

 animals, in proportion to their fize. Whenever it 

 intended to dig, it held its legs obliquely like oars. 

 I laid my handkerchief before it, and it began to 

 ftir in it with the fnout, and taking away the 

 handkerchief to fee what it had done to it, I 

 found that in the fpace of a minute it had made 

 it full of holes, and it looked as if it had been 

 pierced very much by an awl. I was obliged to 

 put fome books on the cover of the box in which 



* THIS animal is probably the Sortx cnftatus of Dr. Linnaeus, 

 who fays it is like the mole, and lives in Penfylvania* F. 



L 3 I kept 



