122 



TALPADJS. 



for its extirpation. His discoveries have been recorded 

 by M. Cadet de Vaux, in a work published in the year 

 1803, and more briefly by Geoffrey St. Hilaire, in his 

 " Cours d'Histoire Naturelle des Mammiferes." This 

 distinguished naturalist indeed visited Le Court for the 

 purpose of ascertaining the truth and extent of these 

 discoveries, and of enjoying the facility with which he 

 was enabled by long habit to trace and to demonstrate 

 the various labours of this object of his incessant 

 research. 



^^ l 



The district or domain to which an individual Mole con- 

 fines himself may be termed its encampment. Within its 

 limits, or at least in immediate communication with this 

 district, all the labours of the animal are pursued. It 

 consists of the habitation or fortress, from which extends 

 the high road by which the animal reaches the opposite 

 extremity of the encampment, and of various galleries or 

 excavations opening into this road, which it is continually 



