December 13, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



835 



as above set forth bears no apparent relation 

 to the functional sexual activity of those 

 organs, since it occurs from the time of hatch- 

 ing on. So far as the available histological 

 or physiological evidence indicates, sexual 

 activation of ovary and testis in the fowl 

 begins at the earliest not until some weeks 

 after hatching. 



Eatmond Pearl 

 Alice M. Boring 



a note on the star-nosed mole 



To THE Editor of Science: On April 20 of 

 this year I discovered a star-nosed mole 

 (Condylura cristata (Linn.) Desmarest) en- 

 tering a half-rotten willow stump at the edge 

 of a little pond in the woods at West Koxbury, 

 Mass. The crevice it had entered proved to be 

 a cul-de-sac, and, after watching for some 

 little time its eager efforts to escape by bur- 

 rowing out, I easily captured it by seizing the 

 tip of the tail between thumb and forefinger. 

 I dropped it on the path close by, where it at 

 once burrowed below the surface of the humus 

 and progressed with some speed there, its 

 progress being indicated by a lengthening 

 ridge of earth. Catching it again, I carried 

 it home wriggling and placed it in a wire cage 

 with a wooden floor. It was very active but, 

 owing, I suppose, to the position of the fore 

 paws, which, of course, were fixed with pahns 

 outward, it could not get over the ground very 

 rapidly. In the cage it kept going the rounds, 

 poking its nose between the wires in an effort 

 to escape. I dug some earthworms and placed 

 them one by one in the cage. Apparently the 

 mole's power of scent was nearly or quite as 

 weak as its eyesight, for it paid no attention 

 to the worms unless they were dropped directly 

 in the path it pursued about the edge of the 

 cage. When it actually ran its nose into a 

 worm, however, it ate with astonishing greedi- 

 ness, and in a curiously piggish way, with a 

 constant shaking of the head, and shuffling 

 the worm into its mouth with the help of the 

 hachs of its " hands," which it moved in uni- 

 son. It devoured about ten worms before its 

 appetite appeared to flag, but one worm, a 



very large, fat one, it abandoned after cutting 

 it into three pieces by transverse bites. Per- 

 haps this worm was uncomfortably large for 

 its mouth and gullet, for it afterwards ate one 

 or two smaller ones. Little or no chewing 

 took place, apparently, and the worm always 

 disappeared down the animal's throat in a 

 very short time. I heard no noise of the teeth 

 in eating, such as Audubon and Bachman 

 mention in describing the feeding of the com- 

 mon mole. A saucer of water put inside the 

 cage, was not noticed for some time, but finally 

 the mole put its nose into it and appeared to 

 drink, with the same continual motion of the 

 head that it used in eating. It tipped the 

 saucer up a little and spilled some of the 

 water, which it then seemed to drink off the 

 board in a way that resembled sponging out 

 the bottom of a boat. It continued the same 

 operation on the dry part of the board, as if it 

 could not tell where the water ended except 

 by feeling. It struck me as a creature of very 

 small intelligence. Its eagerness to escape 

 was perhaps due less to fear than to a desire 

 to get below the surface of the ground and to 

 a habit of perpetual motion that seemed to 

 possess it. I use the word " eagerness " ad- 

 visedly, for that seemed to be the dominant 

 mental attitude of the little animal. There 

 was nothing frantic or nervous about its ac- 

 tions, simply eagerness to enjoy life, liberty 

 and the pursuit of earthworms. The tail, and, 

 in fact, the whole body, was very flexible and 

 had a distinctly sneaky suggestion. This was 

 especially noticeable as the animal climbed up 

 and down the crevice in the stump. The mole 

 escaped the same afternoon, so that my ob- 

 servations on its habits are not extensive, but 

 certain mammalogists to whom I have told 

 the story have advised me to put it on record 

 in the pages of Science. 



Francis H. Allen 

 West Eoxbdby, Mass., 

 May 16, 1912 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OP THE MITE PHYLLO- 

 COPTES SCHLECHTENDALI NALEPA 



The introduction of this mite into the pear 

 and apple orchards of southern Oregon 



