Aug. 1910.] The Common Mole. 



semiarid regions is not at all inviting to an animal that must 

 make its living by plowing along beneath the feet of the more 

 favored creatures that crop the grass. Though able, perhaps, 

 to burrow wherever an earthworm can burrow, the mole could 

 not thrive and maintain its numbers in regions where these 

 worms were few and small in size. 



The accompanynig map (page 2) gives the distribution of 

 the genus Scalops. Two other genera Condylura and Para- 

 scalops occupy portions of this same territory. Between the 

 shaded area on the map and a narrow strip bordering the 

 Pacific coast there are said to be no moles. This statement 

 must be taken with some reservation, however, for moles are 

 found in decreasing numbers on the lowlands along the water- 

 courses as far west at least as the one hundred and first me- 

 ridian. On a recent trip through the western part of Kansas, 

 careful search was made for evidences of moles in favorable 

 spots along the Saline, the Smoky Hill and the Arkansas rivers 

 and their tributaries. At Wilson, on the Saline, moles were 

 fairly common in cultivated fields and gardens. They were 

 also reported from the Station grounds at Hays. At Oakley, 

 no traces of the animal could be found, nor did inquiry among 

 the residents show that one had ever been seen there. Along 

 the Smoky Hill it was learned that moles have been taken 

 occasionally as far west as Logan county, but no traces of 

 their work were found. Residents along the river at Wallace 

 assert that there are no moles in the country. At Garden City, 

 on the Arkansas, moles were sufficiently numerous to be 

 troublesome in lawns. A specimen taken at Great Bend did 

 not seem to differ in any respect from those collected at Man- 

 hattan. 



ACTIVE PERIODS. 



WET AND DRY PERIODS. The mole does not hibernate. Like 

 the pocket gopher, he is more or less active at all seasons of 

 the year. It is during the rainy periods, however, when the 

 soil is moist quite to the surface, that his work is pushed the 

 most vigorously. Shallow runways are then rapidly extended 

 in all directions, and old runways repaired. When, later, the 

 ground becomes dry and hard, extensions to the system of tun- 

 nels are made only in shaded spots, in cultivated fields, or in 

 other favored areas where for some reason or other the soil has 

 become less compact. When a mole chooses to go in a certain 



