22 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the " satisfactory experiment" referred to at p. 125 of the second edition of 

 Bell's 'British Quadrupeds' in the original French [Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 

 Cours de l'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, 18° Lecon, pp. 34, 35. Paris, 

 1829. — Ed.]; but I have always had a shadow of a suspicion that when 

 the "cri effroyable" was blown into the horn which was "introduced into 

 the passage" the momentary effect produced upon the little flags might be 

 due rather to the vibration thus set up in the column of air than to 

 the flight of the Mole along its burrow. [If the horn were employed 

 as a blowpipe doubtless a current of air might be transmitted for a 

 short distance along the gallery; but if used to produce a sound — un 

 cri effroyable — the peculiar compression of the lips required for this 

 purpose would operate to prevent any such current from being trans- 

 mitted. The horn employed by Le Court was a cowherd's horn, un 

 cornet a bouquin. — Ed.] The numbers of young ones in a brood which 

 have come under my notice were in three instances four, and in one 

 instance three. I have more than once seen a Mole crossing a ditch ; but 

 last summer some friends of mine, sailing on the Yare ten miles below 

 Norwich, where the river is a considerable width, saw in mid-stream what 

 they took to be a Water Eat swimming towards the yacht, but which, to 

 their surprise,— as they passed close by it,— proved to be a Mole. Albino 

 Moles, in my expeiience, are rare; but a variety, light cream-coloured or 

 nearly white on the upper surface, the dorsal line slightly tinged with 

 amber, and the under surface — particularly the throat and chin— orange- 

 buff, fading to white, is not at all uncommon. In fact, in some low-lying 

 land in the parish of Oby it may be said to be common. My friend 

 Mr. Frank Norgate, whose opportunities for out-door observation have only 

 been equalled by the excellent use he has made of them, some years ago 

 sent me sketches of three Moles' "nests" which— to use his own expres- 

 sion—he had "dissected." The runs, which he carefully followed up, 

 were of a very complex character, but the general construction and 

 the arrangements of the galleries were very similar to the plan given at 

 p. 122 of Bell's ' British Quadrupeds.' The purpose of these curious 

 structures does not seem to have been at all satisfactorily explained, and 

 I trust that the Editor's article may have the effect of stimulating those 

 correspondents, who may have the opportunity, to endeavour to clear up 

 this and other moot points in the economy of this interesting animal. — 

 T. Southwell (Norwich). 



Varieties of the Mole in Durham.— I have often met an old mole- 

 catcher and taken a stroll with him as he went his rounds—" lifting his 

 traps," he termed it. He dropped the dead Mole from each trap, reset it, 

 then placed it in the same or some other run. He caught a good many, for 

 they were very plentiful where I was brought up, a few miles from Durham. 

 I secured a cream-coloured specimen once for preservation, and have it yet. 



