34 MAMMALIA INSECTIVORA DIAGRAM 3. 



sucks the blood of sleeping persons. But it does not take much 

 to fill its stomach, and if the wound does not bleed after the 

 departure of the vampire, it would not do much more harm than a 

 leech. 



MOLES are still more 

 insectivorous than bats, 

 if this is possible, and 

 have also very peculiar 

 habits. They burrow 

 Mole eating a Mole Cricket. ^ the groun ^ au d 



make galleries in fields and meadows, and clear out the soil. This 

 forms mole-hills. The mole lives constantly underground, and has 

 no need to see clearly, and it is therefore nearly blind ; its eyes arc 

 not visible, as they are very small, and hidden under the fur. It 

 uses its fore paws for digging. They are altogether dispro- 

 portioned to its size, being large, great, and armed with strong 

 claws. It burrows in the earth with this implement. There is 

 certainly no more laborious animal. The mole sleeps very little, 

 and works almost day and night to find its food. It is very 

 voracious, and may be said to be always hungry. When it has not 

 eaten for six hours, it dies of want. But it is carnivorous, and eats 

 absolutely nothing but animals : earthworms, wireworms, mole 

 crickets, and in short all the insects that it can find. It is a serious 

 error to suppose that it eats the roots of plants ; it dies of hunger 

 when it has not fresh flesh to eat. The mole would thus be a very 

 useful animal if it did not turn up the soil. In some countries, men 

 called mole-catchers make a trade of destroying them, by setting traps 

 in their galleries. In other countries they are valued, and the 

 farmers buy them in the market to turn into their fields. Every- 

 thing depends on the crops which are raised. If the field is full 

 of mole crickets, and if the mole-hills do not interfere with the 

 crops, it will be an advantage to have moles ; if the earth 

 removed by the moles causes more damage to the crop than the 

 insects which it eats, it is better not to have moles in the field. 

 The fanner must calculate which is best for the produce of his land. 



