68 THE BRITISH MAMMALS : THEIR GENERA AND SPECIES. 



begin its outward sweep from the very end of the jaw. The 

 broad, strong hand is turned outwards instead of downwards, and 

 the immense development of the radial sesamoid, otherwise the 

 falciform bone, seems to give it six fingers instead of five. The 

 milk teeth are forty-four in number three incisors, a canine, four pre- 

 molars, and three molars in the half of each jaw but in the permanent 

 set a premolar is missing, so that there are only forty. The forward 

 upper incisors are like chisels, and slightly larger than the 

 second pair, the upper canine is large, the last upper premolar 

 has no internal basal process, and the molars are uniform in shape, 

 with well-defined zigzag cusps. The mole is not quite blind; the 

 eyes, though hidden in the fur, being usable, but small so small 

 that in the skull the orbits are almost indistinguishable. There are 

 no external ears. The total length reaches seven inches, of which the 

 tail measures nearly an inch and a half, being as long as the head. The 

 colour ranges from black to buff, the fur being vertical, short and 

 velvety, so as to offer no hindrance to movement backwards or 

 forwards in close quarters underground ; in fact, the animal is 



MOLE. 



(Talpa europaa.) 



obviously adapted in all respects for its peculiar life. As is well 

 known, its tunnels are of great length and complicated plan, one of 

 them always communicating with water a pond or a stream, or even 

 downwards as a sort of well for the mole is almost as thirsty as it 

 is hungry, and it is very hungry, not to say voracious, as might be 

 expected from the immense amount of navvy work it has to do. It 

 feeds upon worms and larvae, and does about as much good as harm 

 to the farmer and gardener, but the hills it makes. are inconvenient 

 and unsightly, and the plants it kills by driving its galleries too close 

 to the roots are many, so that it is remorselessly sought after. It is 

 easily caught by traps in its " runs," and is easily killed, for a tap 

 on the nose is as fatal to it as to a badger. The males are more 

 numerous than the females ; the young average four to a birth, and 

 they are born in a nest of leaves and rootlets, discoverable, as a 

 rule, under some " hill " of larger dimensions than the rest. The 

 Mole can swim as well as run and tunnel. Its forty-four teeth are an 

 interesting survival of a very early stage in its development, and its 

 tiny eyes prove that it took to finding its livelihood underground at 

 a comparatively recent period. It is not found in Ireland, but is 

 widely distributed throughout England and Scotland up to Caith- 

 ness, and ranges eastwards from Anglesey to Japan, 



