FAMILY I NSECTIVORA. INSECT-EATERS. 



17 



ground, the imperfection of the other senses than that of smell ? It is a 

 kind of touch at a distance, which reminds one of the direct touch of the 

 Bat's wing." 



Moles are predaceous and extraordinarily voracious, being almost furious 

 in satisfying their hunger, which is supposed to be in them a more violent 

 feeling than fear. Their usual food is worms, ants, the grubs of cock- 

 chafers and beetles, and they are commonly, though incorrectly, believed 

 to eat the roots of the herbage ; which, however, is not the case, but the 

 mischief which they cause to the roots is by disturbing the ground about 

 them in their hunt after animal food. 



Our remarks upon the two species of the Mole must necessarily be very 

 brief. 



The Common Mole (T. Vulgaris), Plate 4, is rather more than five 

 inches long ; incisive teeth of equal length ; aperture between the eyelids 

 very small, surrounded by a narrow, bare skin, and hidden by the fur, 

 which is attached around it in a circular form ; the fur is close, short, soft, 

 and almost velvet-like ; its ordinary colour is glossy deep black, but vary- 

 ing according to the position in which the animal is held : thus looking 

 from the head towards the tail, it has an ashy tinge, but is dull black 

 when viewed from tail to head. The Mole is, however, subject to great 

 variety of colour, piebald, grey, cream-coloured, and tawny. 



Le Court observes that the Mole in its passage across streams is directed 

 by its sight, and that the fur which usually overspreads the apertures of 

 the eyelids, when moistened by the water, separates, and radiating forms a 

 sort of circular frill around the eye, which is then fully exposed. But that 

 under common circumstances they really do see, is proved by the following 

 experiment, which Le Court made in the presence of Geoffrey. Into a 

 piece of earthen water-pipe several Moles were successively introduced, and 

 at the open end Le Court stationed himself; whilst he remained quite still, 

 the Mole moved rapidly along the pipe for the purpose of escaping into the 

 ground, but if he merely held up his thumb, as the animal approached the 

 aperture, it stopped, and immediately retraced its steps, so that by this 

 simple action it was as completely imprisoned as if fastened up with a 

 grating. 



The common Mole is a native of Europe and the temperate parts of 

 Russia and Siberia, as far as the river Lena ; it is found also in Upper or 

 Northern Italy, and though its definite southern limits are not ascertained, 

 it does not appear to have been met with in Lower Italy. It is said also 

 that Moles are not found either in Iceland, Orkney, or Zetland. 



The burrows which the Mole forms, taken together, are called its encamp- 

 ment, which are divided into several parts its lodge and runs, together 

 with its hunting grounds, and its nest, for the rearing of its young ; but on 

 these we cannot here enlarge. 



The Mole is most active, and casts up more earth immediately before 

 rain, and in winter before a thaw, as at these times the worms and grubs 

 begin to move towards the surface ; but on the contrary, in very dry weather, 

 it seldom or never forms any hillocks, but burrows deeply after its prey, 

 which at that time also buries itself deeply. 



It is generally stated that Moles do not make any winter store ; Jesse, 

 however, was informed by a mole-catcher, " that previous to the setting in 

 of winter, the Mole prepares a sort of basin, forming it in a bed of clay, 

 which will hold about a quart. In this basin a great quantity of worms 

 are deposited, and in order to prevent their escape they are partly muti- 

 lated, but not so much so as to kill them. On these worms the Mole feeds 

 during the winter months. 



With reference to the injury or benefit derived from the operations of the 

 Mole there has been and still is much dispute. Le Court considers they 

 do great mischief, not only from their reaping the young corn whilst in the 

 blade to line their nests, at breeding time, but also by the damage they do 

 to the finer roots of trees and other vegetables and grass. On the other 

 hand, Mr. Jesse says, " I have been assured that where old mole-hills are 

 most abundant on sheep pastures, the latter animal is generally in a healthy 

 state, and feeds on the wild thyme and other salubrious herbs which grow 

 on these heaps of earth. When these have been levelled and cleared away, 



sheep are not found to thrive as well as they did previously. This fact was 

 confirmed to me by Mr. Hogg, the Ettrick shepherd, who deprecated the 

 practice of removing mole-hills. In Leicestershire, where old mole-hills are 

 extremely abundant in the fine and extensive pastures which are to be found 

 in that county, sheep thrive well, and are generally healthy." 



Occasionally, however, they do very great mischief, as when they pierce 

 embankments so as to render them leaky. An instance of this kind occurred 

 in France in 1800, and a rich extensive district was near being destroyed 

 by inundation, from which it was only saved by Le Court's knowledge 

 enabling him to fix on numerous colonies of Moles, which, having esta- 

 blished themselves in the banks, had damaged them so much as to prevent 

 their keeping out the water. 



The Blind Mole (T. Ceeca) inhabits Tuscany, the centre and south of Italy, 

 part of Southern France, and, from the comparison with Aristotle's descrip- 

 tion of his <i<77ra\a, it cannot be doubted that this is the indigenous Mole 

 of Greece. 



At a little distance below the surface, the Blind Mole scoops out long 

 winding passages, communicating with each other ; and in the course of its 

 work forms air-holes, throwing out the earth from below at particular hours 

 of the day in the shape of little conical heaps, which stop the growth of 

 the surrounding herbage, by disturbing their tender roots and depriving 

 them of their proper nourishment. They inhabit fields, kitchen-gardens, 

 and vineyards, because such soil suits their operations, but are never found 

 in hard bottoms nor in rocky districts, nor in places liable to inundation. 

 They change their quarters with the seasons, proceeding to more elevated 

 localities during the rainy season, but returning to the valleys in summer. 

 They produce twice a-year four or five young at a litter, between March 

 and August, which they tend with the greatest care, placing them on a bed 

 of dried grass and fine roots in a rather spacious chamber above the level 

 of the galleries, the entrance to which is carefully secured with props of 

 earth or woody fibre. Like the common species it is extremely voracious, 

 feeding principally on the larvae of insects and worms ; but it will feed on 

 almost any animal, and attacks those weaker than itself, as the Field 

 Mouse, which it devours alive. 



The discovery and description of this species by M. Paul Savi, of Pisa, 

 has set at rest the contending assertions of different zoologists as to the 

 vision or blindness of the Mole, proving that although the common species 

 is capable of seeing, there is yet another which is really blind, and which 

 was doubtless the species known to and described by Aristotle. 



The senses of smelling and hearing appear to be, as also in the case of 

 Sorex Etruscus, the only guides of the Blind Mole in distinguishing objects ; 

 indeed the scent is still more remarkable than in S. Etrusc., for on lifting 

 the animal from the ground in order to examine it, or even when it was 

 moving about spontaneously beneath the herbage, the nostrils were always 

 observed in motion, and whenever it chanced to discover any body which 

 it felt a desire to examine, the movement of the nostrils increased so greatly 

 as to cause the emission of a sound similar in kind, though of course not in 

 degree, to that made by hounds on scent. 



CENTETES the Tandrek. These animals were formerly included among 

 the Erinacei ; but they differ from them materially in having the incisor teeth 

 in front, whilst the Erinacei have two long incisores similar to those of the 

 Rodentia in front, with the common incisor teeth behind. The new genus 

 was first instituted by Illiger. With respect to minor differences, they are 

 incapable of rolling themselves so completely into a ball as the Hedgehogs, 

 and they have either no tail or a very short one ; their snout is also very 

 long and pointed. They are natives of Madagascar. 



The Silky Tandrek (C. Setosus), which measures from ten to twelve inches 

 in length, is the largest of the species ; we have also the Spiny Tandrek, or 

 Asiatic Hedgehog (C. Spinosus), which is about the size of the Common 

 Hedgehog, and the Radiated Hedgehog (C. Semispinosus), somewhat 

 smaller than the last. All these animals live in burrows on the water's 

 edge, where they pass the greater part of their time in sleep during the 

 hotter months ; they hunt for food in the mud, and spend more time in 

 the water than on land. 



