ON THE REPRODUCTIVE HISTORY OF THE MOLE. 191 
12. Some Phases in the Reproductive History of the Female 
Mole (Talpa europea). By FrepEeric Woop-Jones, 
D.Sc., F.Z.8. 
[Received February 3, 1914: Read February 17, 1914. ] 
(Plates I.-I1I.,* and Text-figures 1-13.) 
INDEX. Page 
Sinuciunerorm Morphol ogyererene: eee eeeeeene ene eemeeen PLOO 
Wevelopmientinc nce csse ceen cee oe ceay Los) 200 
A. Introduction. 
For long it has been known to country folk that in some way 
the sexual life of the Mole (Valpa europea) is peculiar. 
In an indefinite manner this idea has been given concrete form 
in works on Natural History, and practically every field-natur- 
alist who has written of the habits of the mole has stated that 
the males greatly outnumber the females. Various habits of the 
mole are described which are supposed to be the outcome of this 
great preponderance of the males; and most popular works 
allude to the love contests, the fierce battles, and the slaughter of 
the surplus males during the spring mating season. It is an 
observation which has been handed down almost unaltered from 
the very oldest authors, that the proportion of the sexes 1s 
equalised by the killing of superfluous males in the struggles of 
courtship. 
I have, however, heard another account of this idea of the 
animal’s sexual peculiarity from mole-catchers. I have been told 
by a most observant trapper that moles are all of one sex until 
their second season, and that then, and only then, do they be- 
come malesand females. J do not know of any printed expression 
of this particular statement of a piece of nature lore, but I have 
no doubt the idea is more prevalent, among a class of men who 
gain a partial livelihood by mole trapping, than the mere repe- 
tition of an isolated observation might lead one to suppose. 
The mole is an inconspicuous animal, not readily observed 
in its natural habitat nor easily kept in confinement, and so it 
has not reached the dignity attained by the spotted hyzena of 
having a literature of legend concerning its sexual habits which 
stretches back into. the. classics; nevertheless it has taken its 
place among the creatures of fabulous habit in the nature lore of 
a very limited class of country folk. 
As is the case with so many of the nature beliefs current up 
and down the country, there is far more than mere countryside 
superstition in this idea that the mole can change its sex, or at 
any rate its sexual appearances. Asa matter of fact it is now 
more than eighty years ago that the question was removed from 
* For explanation of the Plates see pp. 215-216. 
