MOLES. 33 



MOLES. 



THERE is a tribe of animals constantly around our 

 country habitations, of underground and nocturnal 

 habits, some of which become torpid in winter. All 

 are timid and unobtrusive, and yet have great influence 

 upon our welfare ; for they check the rapid increase of 

 those worms and insects which live and breed beneath 

 the soil, and would destroy those crops which are neces- 

 sary to our existence. There are certain and constant 

 characters in their formation which bring them all 

 under one group, called Insectivora, or Insect-eating 

 Mammalia, by naturalists ; but among them are smaller 

 groups of individuals, with peculiar characters, adapted 

 to their different habits. 



The Mole is an instance of one of these minor groups, 

 which, with one exception, has a portion of sight in 

 spite of its reputation for being blind. Its smell and 

 hearing, however, are so acute, that they make up for 

 the deficiency in the other sense, a highly-developed 

 organ for which would be very much in the way of an 

 animal which makes its habitation within the earth, 

 and which rarely comes to the surface in the day-time. 

 Its fore-feet are largest, and powerful muscles enable 

 it to dig up the soil and roots which oppose the forma- 

 tion of its galleries, and which are thrown up as they 

 become loosened. The nose or snout is furnished with 

 a bone at the end, with which it pierces the earth ; 

 and in one genus this bone has twenty-two small carti- 

 laginous points attached to it, which can be extended 

 into a star. A vein lies behind the ear of all, the 

 smallest puncture of which causes instant death. 

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