142 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



for this reason moles are so seldom seen upon the surface, 

 though they are oftener there than is supposed. The 

 fall of a distant footstep is a signal for them to retreat to 

 the covered gallery, which they will have reached ere the 

 intruder is near enough to catch sight of them. 



As highly developed, if not more so, is their sense of 

 smell. Traps that have been too much handled they 

 back away from ; and an accomplished talparius will 

 replace the human scent by that of the mole itself, well 

 rubbing the trap, before setting it, against the body of 

 one already caught. 



My mole-catcher tells me of a still more effective 

 method for deceiving talpa by the scent : making this 

 attractive, instead of repellant. It is done by bottling 

 up a number of earthworms, and so keeping them till 

 they become fluxed into a jelly. A portion of this, 

 aught but agreeable to human olfactories, dropped into 

 the run near where the trap is set, will attract moles 

 from near, and afar, as valerian would a cat. Though 

 unable to be his voucher for this curious circumstance, I 

 believe it to be a fact, knowing the man's truthfulness, 

 with the absence of motive for misleading me. 



As to the sense of touch, the mole evidently possesses 

 that in a high degree, its long tapering muzzle, as the 

 elephant's trunk, and the bill of snipe or woodcock, 

 being furnished with nerves of great sensibility, enabling 

 it to tell by ibefeel what it comes in contact with. 



Take it all in all, this humble quadruped, supposed to 

 be blind, and helpless beyond the common, is better 

 furnished, both for attack and defence, than many others 

 seemingly its superiors in sense capability. 



