MOLE. 17 



hunting purposes. These are but little below the surface, in 

 the richer soil where there are more worms and grubs and 

 where the dug-out earth is easily pushed up to the surface by 

 the pressure of his head. 



Moral writers used to commiserate the poor blind Mole for 

 having to expend its energies in ceaseless toil in the dark under- 

 ground, and then rhapsodise on its marvellous adaptation to 

 its role in nature, getting lost in admiration of the mathematical 

 skill displayed in the construction of the " fortress " they had 

 never seen and which was largely an imaginative piece of 

 engineering. It is true that its body may be said to fit the 

 tunnels it has excavated, though it might be more accurate to 

 say that the tunnels are modelled upon and by the Mole's form, 

 for it is the constant passage of the animal backwards and 

 forwards that smooths and consolidates their walls. The 

 sense of sight is of less importance to it than that of smell, 

 which is apparently its most highly-developed sense, though 

 that of hearing is very acute. 



Although the eyes are complete in the sense that eyeballs 

 and lenses are present, they are so small and so completely 

 surrounded by fur that it does not appear that the Mole can 

 get any great advantage from their possession, even when he 

 is above ground. The diameter of the eyeball is one millimetre 

 that is, considerably less than the head of a " short white 7 ' 

 pin ! 



At the end of the last century, my friend Mr. Lionel E. Adams 

 set himself the task of providing some more reliable information 

 as to the life-story and habits of the Mole, and in four years of 

 research did not hesitate in the interests of science to break in 

 upon the digger's privacy in order to explore his so-called 

 "fortress," and the nursery of Mrs. Mole. He was not content 

 with cutting sections of two or three of these erections ; he 

 examined three hundred of them, finding a considerable 

 variation in their arrangements, but not one of them was like 



A.L. C 



