MOLES 
Family Talpide 
Common Mole 
Scalops aquaticus (Linnzus) 
Called also Naked-tailed Mole. 
Length. 6.40 inches. 
Description. Hands large and naked with powerful nails, hind 
feet small and of usual shape, snout long and pointed, tail 
short and naked. Fur glossy silvery gray, varying in shade 
when disturbed or placed in different light; often tinged 
rusty. 
Range. ee Canada, southward in the lowlands to Florida, 
where it is represented in the southern part of the peninsula 
by the somewhat smaller Florida mole (S. agquaticus flort- 
danus). A browner variety also occurs on Anastasia Island, 
Fla., the island mole (S. anastas@ Bangs). 
Our common mole differs but little from the well-known mole 
of Europe that for centuries has disfigured the rich English lawns 
to the rage and disgust of the gardener. 
Our species is responsible for the little heaps of new earth 
which, with each recurring summer, are thrown up to deface 
our own lawns. Morning after morning new hillocks stand 
out defiantly, extending the line of diminutive earthworks along 
the turf. 
These heaps are not true mole-hills, but just the loose earth 
thrown up by the little miner as the easiest way of being rid 
of that which he displaces in digging for worms. 
His work being usually carried on at a depth of five or 
six inches, it is evident that he must dig the earth away with his 
forepaws until it comes within reach of his hind feet with which 
he kicks it still further back. 
When a certain amount has gathered behind him, judging 
from observations, I should say enough to fill the tunnel for a 
space of five or six inches, he manages, somehow, to push the 
whole along the narrow passage to the last opening made to 
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