MOLE. 13 



We have never tried Hedgehog-meat as food, but several 

 well-known men have testified to its excellence when cooked 

 gipsy-fashion in a crust of clay. 



The dentition of the Hedgehog is i , c \)pm f, m | = 36. 



With the Hedgehog we make our acquaintance with the order 

 Insectivora, which is represented in Britain by five species 

 only: the others being the Mole and three Shrews. In many 

 respects they are similar to the Rodentia, but the incisor teeth 

 have not the chisel-shape of the latter, and the molar teeth 

 instead of having grinding crowns have them developed into 

 pointed eminences more suited for piercing the chitinous armour 

 of beetles, etc. The skeleton is furnished with clavicles or 

 collar-bones. There are five toes on each of the feet, furnished 

 with claws, and the animal walks on its soles. Our native 

 species represent three distinct families : Erinacida (Hedge- 

 hog), Talpidce (Mole), and Soricidce (Shrews). 



Mole (Talpa enropcea. Linn.). 



However slight may be their personal acquaintance with the 

 Mole himself, his engineering work is only too evident to every 

 possessor of a garden. He may, perchance, live in a neighbour's 

 land, but from time to time we shall find some morning that he 

 has driven a tunnel right across the lawn or the tennis-court, 

 marring its hitherto fair surface with an ugly ridge and at 

 intervals a little heap of raw earth. If we are sufficiently self- 

 controlled to dissemble our inward rage, we may get some 

 countervailing good out of the calamity. If we bring a garden 

 chair and sit quietly within range of the newest heap, our quiet 

 watching may be rewarded by a sight of the clever little engineer, 

 and we may be restrained from throwing stones at him by the 

 thought that he is seeking to reduce the number of those worm- 

 casts on the lawn that have always annoyed us so. 



If the tunnelling work is not yet completed, we shall see a 



