INSECT-EATING QUADRUPEDS. 67 
ent species. The eyes of the Mole are very small, as it 
has but little use for vision; but its hearing and smell 
are very acute. Its fur is fine and soft, and it will not 
retain a particle of dirt, although continually in contact 
with it. Its fore paws, mounted with strong claws, are 
powerful instruments for digging. In Fig.49 you have 
the bones of one of these paws, 
which are very large, and are 
worked by strong muscles. The 
head is constructed for digging 
“= also, the frame of the nose be- 
~ ing wholly bone, instead of part 
eristle, as in most other ani- 
mals. The hinder part of the body has not the great 
strength of the fore part, for the hind feet are not em- 
ployed in digging. 
109. The plan of a mole-hill is very curious. It has, as 
you see in the plan in Fig. 50, two circular galleries, one 
above the other, con- 
nected together by five 
___ passages. In the very 
= centre of the mound, 
and on a level with the 
ground around it, is a 
circular apartment 
where the Mole sleeps. This is connected by three pas- 
sages with the upper gallery, and not at all with the lower 
one. Then there are passages running out from the lower 
gallery, and into one of these opens a passage from the 
circular chamber. Just this plan has been instinctively 
adopted ever since the first mole was created. The food 
of the Mole is chiefly worms and insects, which it gath- 
ers by burrowing. The good which the Mole does to 
the farmer in this way is probably much greater than 
any harm which his burrowing may sometimes occasion. 
110. The Shrew Mouse, Fig. 51 (p. 68), is so called be- 
cause it is so much like a Mouse, but it is readily distin- 
Fig. 49.—Fore paw of the Mole. 
Fig. 50.—Mole-hill. 
