24 Entomology and Zoology Department. [Bull. 163 



verbial for his sagacity and cunning, but the mole is almost 

 his peer in these respects. This conclusion has been reached 

 after dealing intimately with the mole for a period of two 

 years. Like experience with the pocket gopher, an animal of 

 somewhat similar habits, has demonstrated the fact that in 

 this comparison he is stupidity itself, blundering into any sort 

 of trap laid for him by the wiles of man. 



TRAPPING. Trapping is the surest and, so far as my experi- 

 ence goes, the most practical method of getting rid of moles. I 

 make this statement, however, without intention to disparage 

 the utility of other methods. In some of the European coun- 

 tries villages and rural communities have their professional 

 mole catchers, who follow the business for a livelihood. Cor- 

 respondence with agricultural societies in two or three of these 

 countries elicited the information that these professional 

 catchers commonly use some sort of a trap which they con- 

 struct themselves. These traps all have as part of their 

 mechanism horse hair or fine wire loops which are drawn 

 tightly about the body of the mole by the release of a pliant 

 stick bent downward when the trigger is set. 



There are a number of excellent mole traps on the market 

 in this country, any one of which, when properly handled, will 

 give good results. All the different makes that have come un- 

 der my notice depend upon the same sort of mechanism for re- 

 leasing the spring; namely, a broad trigger-pan intended to be 

 placed directly over a depressed spot in the mole's runway 

 when setting the trap. The raising of this trigger-pan as the 

 mole again upheaves the depressed portion of his surface bur- 

 row releases the contrivances designed to kill. The latter are 

 of two types sharp spikes which impale the mole when driven 

 into the ground by the spring, or two pairs of scissor-like jaws 

 which close firmly across the runway, one pair on either side of 

 the trigger-pan. The arrangement of the spring, the safety 

 catch and other details of individual trap construction are mat- 

 ters of secondary importance. 



Plainly the efficiency of any animal trap depends upon its 

 being so constructed as to adapt itself to the habits of the 

 animal it is designed to capture. These mole traps conform to 

 such requirements in at least two particulars they can be set 

 without exciting the animal's suspicions by entering or intro- 

 ducing anything into its burrow and are sprung by the mole in 



