202 A COURSE ON ZOOLOGY. 



in a snout something like a pig's, and with this the 

 creature digs in the ground. The mole has very small 

 eyes, but they are sufficient for the requirements of 

 underground vision, and they are covered and hidden by 

 long hairs, which protect them from contact with the 

 soil that the animal throws around. The most re- 

 markable feature in the structure of the mole is the de- 

 velopment of the fore-limb, of which all from the wrist 

 up is enclosed in the skin of the body, so that all that 

 appear are two large paws lying alongside the head, the 

 palms outside. These paws are very largely developed for 

 the size of the animal, are naked, and each has five short, 

 thick digits, armed with curved and solid nails. The 



FIG. 127. 



r^ 



b 

 a, section of the habitation of a mole ; b, plan of ditto. 



hind limbs are much like those of a rat, but shorter and 

 stronger. With his snout the mole digs into and hollows 

 out the soil, and with his paws he throws behind him the 

 loosened earth : he can travel quite rapidly in this man- 

 ner, producing clean and sharply-cut cylindrical galleries, 

 from which from time to time he removes the rubbish. 



The mole feeds entirely on worms and the larvae of 

 insects, and in seeking such food it digs its gallery. 

 Sometimes it may injure, by exposing them, roots which 

 it encounters in its passage, but it does not eat these 

 roots ; it would die of hunger alongside the most juicy 



