RAT KIND. 197 



place to another, to bore its way through a resist- 

 ing body, we should be apt to assert, that such an 

 existence must be the most frightful and solitary 

 in nature. However, in the present animal, 

 though we find it condemned to all those seem- 

 ing inconveniencies, we shall discover no signs of 

 wretchedness or distress. No quadruped is fat- 

 ter, none has a more sleek or glossy skin ; and, 

 though denied many advantages that most ani- 

 mals enjoy, it is more liberally possessed of 

 others, which they have in a more scanty pro- 

 portion. 



This animal, so well known in England, is 

 however utterly a stranger in other places, and 

 particularly in Ireland. For such, therefore, as 

 have never seen it, a short description will be 

 necessary.* And, in the first place, though 

 somewhat of a size between the rat and the 

 mouse, it no way resembles either, being an ani- 

 mal entirely of a singular kind, and perfectly 

 unlike any other quadruped whatever. It is 

 bigger than a mouse, with a coat of fine, short, 

 glossy, black hair. Its nose is long and pointed, 

 resembling that of a hog, but much longer. Its 

 eyes are so small that it is scarcely possible to 

 discern them. Instead of ears, it has only holes 

 in the place. Its neck is so short, that the head 

 seems stuck upon the shoulders. The body is 

 thick and round, terminating by a very small 

 short tail ; and its legs also are so very short, that 



[* The mole has six unequal fore-teeth in the upper jaw, and eight in the 

 lower; one tusk on each side in both jaws; seven grinders on each side 

 above, and six below. ] 



