ORDER IV. INSECTIVORA. 45 



(liliorcMit points of wliicli it proceeds, forcing its way into the liitlierto unpcr- 

 fonitril soil. In fonning its subterranean paths, it works with its fore feet, 

 whicli, as has been seen, arc admirably ada[ited for sera[)ing away the earth, 

 and throwing it backward, moving itself forward by tlie hind feet. AVlien 

 it has thus excavated an extended series of walks, it can run along them to 

 any point without difficulty, and finds security in them from tiie pursuit of 

 many enemies, although man employs them as a sure means of entrap- 

 ping it. 



In prosecuting these labors, it appears that each individual appropriates 

 to himself a district, or space of ground, in which he forms a kind of fortress 

 under a hillock raised in some secure place, as beneath a bank, or near the 

 roots of a tree. In this eminence, of whicli the eartii is rendered very com- 

 pact, is formed a circular gallery, communicating with a smaller one placeil 

 above it by several passages. On the level of the lower or larger gallery 

 is a roundish chamber communicating with the upper by three passages. 

 From the outer gallery Ijrancli off a number of passages, which run out to a 

 variable extent, and, forming an irregular curve, terminate in what may be 

 called the hiuh road, which is a lonii i)assaire procccdinir from the outer cir- 

 cnlar gallery, and at the same time communicating directly with the central 

 fhamber. It extends to the fu-thest limit of the domain, is of somewhat 

 greater diameter than the body of the mole, has its walls comparatively 

 compact, and communicates with the numerous passages liy which the 

 domain is intersected. By this [)rincipal passage the mole visits the various 

 parts of its hunting-ground, excavating on either side, and throwing out the 

 earth here and there, so as to form iiea[)S, or molehills. The excavations 

 vary in their distance from the surface according to the nature of the soil, 

 and other circumstances. In deep, rich eartli they are sometimes nearly a 

 focit in depth, while in gra\elly or clayey ground, covered with a thin layer 

 of soil, they are often scarcely an inch. The mole, also, often burrows 

 quite close to the surface of rich, loose soil, which has been ploughed, and 

 sometimes runs along it, forming merely a groove or trench. During win- 

 ter, when the cold forces the worms deeper into the ground, it follows them 

 to their retreats, driving its galleries and alleys to a corresponding dejith. 

 At this season it retires at intervals to its fortress, in which it has formed a 

 l(cd of dry leaves and grass ; but in spring it quits this habitation, and rests 

 during the warm season in a molehill. 



Xotwithstanding the mole destroys immense numbers of worms, and 

 other insects hurtful to vegetation, it is, in many localities, regarded with 

 disfavor by the gardener and nurservman, because, in its subterranean 

 wanderings, it destroys the beauty of their flower-beds and borders ; but the 

 animal never eats vegetable food. 



