NOTES AND QUERIES. 21 



destroy deer, hares, nor conies, nor other gentleman's game upon pain of 

 one year's imprisonment." — J. E. Harting. 



Weasels for New Zealand. — Mr. Allboues, of Brigg, sent last week 

 (Dec. 17th) the fourth consignment of Weasels and Stoats for New Zealand, 

 with the view of thinning-down the rabbits. The cargo consisted of no 

 less than 300, which have been collected from all parts of North Lincoln- 

 shire at an average cost of about 3s. id. each. The animals were to be fed 

 on the way with live pigeons. — ' The Field,' Dec. Mth. 



Habits of the Mole.— I cannot but think that the account given in 

 ' The Field' of March 13th, 1875, and reprinted in ' The Zoologist' for the 

 same year (p. 4493), is in some respects very imaginative. With regard to 

 the Mole's reputed habit of storing up worms in the marshy land, " where 

 they remain alive and wholesome, and fetching them thence to their young 

 as these require them," I have grave doubts. It is quite true that such 

 accumulations of worms as the writer describes are found in the runs of the 

 Mole, but, without being able to speak with certainty on the subject, it is 

 my belief that the runs in question are disused runs into which the worms 

 having once penetrated, eventually find their way to the depressions referred 

 to, and are unable to escape in consequence of the steepness of the sides of 

 the cavity and the compactness of the soil which lines it. [But if a worm 

 be placed in a basin of water it will be seen to ascend the side, which is 

 much more "steep and compact" than the cavities made by the Mole.— Ed.] 

 I have frequently been informed that these imprisoned worms are stored 

 up by the Mole for future consumption, and that they are disabled before 

 being so deposited ; but what has been pointed out to me as the supposed 

 injury has invariably proved to be the thickened segments (clitella), and the 

 flaccid, unhealthy appearance of the worms would doubtless arise from the 

 abnormal circumstances under which they are found. In frosty weather 

 the worms, which form the chief food of the Mole, retire to a greater or less 

 depth in the soil, according to the duration and severity of the frost, and are 

 followed by the Moles ; but in this country frost seldom penetrates so deeply 

 into the soil as to prevent the Moles from burrowing, and fresh mole- 

 workings are often to be seen when the surface of the land is icebound. 

 Drought is the great enemy to the Mole. During the past summer they 

 suffered severely, and might frequently be seen searching on the surface 

 for food (and perhaps water), the worms having retired to too great a depth 

 for them to follow. Like the Editor, I have been astonished at the rapid 

 progress the Mole is capable of making when surprised outside its run, but 

 if the surface were sufficiently soft to permit of its burrowing it has quickly 

 passed out of sight. English Moles must, however, be a very degenerate 

 race compared with Le Court's Mole, whose speed when frightened " was 

 equal to that of a horse at full trot"; I have never read the particulars of 



