The Mole a "Conferring Benefactor"! 129 



earth-worm was thrown in to it, the long wriggler was 

 seized upon and chawed up with a surprising rapidity. 



For reasons, presently to be stated, I was not permitted 

 to carry out the experiment to my satisfaction; but this 

 has been done for me by Mr. Allen, the very intelligent 

 bailiff of my friend Arthur Armitage, Esq., J.P., of Dad- 

 nor, Herefordshire. Having captured a live mole, Mr. 

 Allen placed it, just as I had done, in an empty flower-pot, 

 where for three weeks he kept it, repeatedly, indeed every 

 day, offering it wire- worms in abundance. It would not 

 eat one of them; yet the moment earth-worms were 

 thrown into the pot it gobbled them up greedily. Be- 

 fore the end of the three weeks it had become so tame as 

 to take the worms out of his hand ! 



He says, moreover, that the " runs " of the moles in a 

 field of young wheat are the favourite resort of the wire- 

 worms, which affect loose, open ground; and these will be 

 found plenteous in the runs, but never in the stomach of 

 the mole. Mr. Allen assures me that the moles, besides 

 being noxious in other ways, do great damage to young 

 clover sprouting from the reed. It is then a tender, 

 delicate plant; and the mole loosening the earth around 

 its roots, causes it to wither and die. 



Further experimenting on the mole I had caught, while 

 my servant was searching for earth-worms to offer it, 

 under some artificial rockwork, a toad was turned up, 

 which I directed also to be thrown into the flower-pot. 

 Then I became witness of an episode somewhat singular. 

 The mole, utterly regardless of my presence or the string 

 tied to one of its hind legs, with which I frequently pulled 

 it about at once made up to the toad, and caught the 

 thigh of the latter between his teeth. It did not bite the 

 batrachian, however ; only seemed to play with it, or as if 



K 



