COMMON MOLE. 137 



The food of the Mole consists especially of 

 earth-worms, Lumbricus terrestris, in quest of 

 which it burrows its way in the soil, extending its 

 subterranean excursions in proportion as its prey 

 diminishes in number ; but the excessive and unre- 

 mitting labour required in this pursuit, were it car- 

 ried on at random, is rendered unnecessary by an 

 instinct which impels it to excavate a series of runs 

 or galleries, along which it can walk without in- 

 convenience, and from different points of which it 

 proceeds, forcing its way into the hitherto unper- 

 forated soil. In forming its subterranean paths, it 

 works with its fore feet, which, as has been seen, 

 are admirably adapted for scraping away the earth, 

 and throwing it backwards, propelling itself forward 

 by its hind feet, which are disposed in the usual 

 manner. When it has thus excavated an extended 

 series of walks, it can run along them to any 

 point without difficulty, and finds security in them 

 from the pursuit of many enemies, although man 

 employs them as a sure means for entrapping it. 

 For our knowledge of the methodical arrangement 

 of these passages, we are chiefly indebted to the 

 labours of M. Henri le Court, who devoted a great 

 part of his life to the examination of the habits of 

 the Mole. According to his observations, as re- 

 corded by Geoffrey St Hilaire, each individual ap- 

 propriates to himself a district, or space of ground, 

 in which he forms a kind of fortress under a hillock 

 raised in some secure place, as beneath a bank, or 

 near the roots of a tree. In this eminence, of 



