LITTLE GENTLEMAN IN BLACK VELVET COAT * 



quite difficult to realise that the animal was 

 being influenced solely by the sense of smell ! 



As people sometimes speak in pitying tones 

 of the ' poor blind mole,' I must point out here 

 that the mole almost certainly leads a very 

 enjoyable life, for it knows nothing of what 

 light and sight mean. It has never lived 

 above ground, it has no remembrance of things 

 seen, it lives in a world of smells and scents of 

 which we in our turn, with our blunted useless 

 noses, can have no idea. In its dark tunnels 

 it fights, hunts, feasts, mates, and enjoys life 

 with quite as much gusto as the creatures of 

 the light and air ; it must enjoy its life, for the 

 reason it is of all creatures one of the most 

 perfectly adapted to its surroundings, so what- 

 ever you do don't despise the * poor little mole ' ; 

 it does not want pity, and did it know any- 

 thing of us would probably be sorry for people 

 having to live up in the dazzling sunshine ! 



(Note. The Moles constitute the sub-family 

 Talpince, which ranges throughout the temperate 

 parts of Europe and Asia, from England on the one 

 side to Japan on the other. Four species are now 

 recognised in Europe, but only one, T. europcea, 

 the Common Mole, is widely distributed. It is 

 plentiful on the Continent and throughout Great 

 Britain, but is not found in Ireland.) 



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