474 DR. J. ANDERSON ON SPALAX TYPHLUS. [June 14, 



opening them up occupied some time ; but as the soil was not hard 

 and the tunnels not more than 18 inches, as a rule, below the sur- 

 face, the work was accomplished more quickly than it would have 

 been had the conditions been less favourable to digging. When a 

 secondary tunnel was encountered its opening was closed while the 

 main run was traced to its end, and then the secondary one was 

 taken up, and so on until at last all the runs were searched from the 

 points at which they had been cut across, and then the other sections 

 in the opposite directions were taken in hand. We followed some 

 of these to a depth of four feet, and there the passages were 

 numerous and some of them very short and running above others 

 below them. In one place, three runs were observed side by side, 

 but all ultimately diverged from each other. In following one of 

 these to the depth just mentioned we came upon a domical chamber 

 packed full of bulbs, some of which are exhibited. My wife counted 

 them as they were handed out and they reached the number of 68. 

 Adjoining this chamber was another, quite empty, and which the 

 Arabs said was the sleeping apartment. A passage leading off 

 from these chambers was followed up for a short distance, when 

 we came upon the animal moving backwards in it, retreating as we 

 gradually shortened its burrow, which proving to be a cul-de-sac 

 rendered the capture of the rodent an easy matter. All the passages 

 dug up seemed to radiate outwards from these chambers ; but we did 

 not see any other store chambers, as the two other animals we captured 

 were found in runs near the surface. However, in following up one 

 animal we came upon a chamber the floor of which was covered with 

 a nest of leaves. The digging out of these three animals occupied 

 us four hours. 



"The tunnels are perfectly smooth and cylindrical, and in digging 

 through the soil above them numerous bulbs of the same kind as 

 those found in the store-house were observed. The runs are there- 

 fore tunnels made by the animal in search of its food. 



" I kept the three animals beside me for some time before sending 

 them off by steamer for London, placing each in a large tin box 

 half filled with earth and sand. I observed that when a number of 

 bulbs were given to them they manifested their hoarding instinct by 

 carrying them between their powerful teeth to one spot, where they 

 deposited them — a very striking performance in an animal devoid 

 of "sight. The probability is that, in actions of this kind, it is 

 guided by the sense of smell, the other sense which is most developed 

 being that of hearing, even although there is no external ear, this 

 part of the acoustic organ being reduced to a tube beginning on a 

 level with the external skin, but of considerable capacity. The 

 animal is endowed with wonderful activity and is very restless at 

 night, thus still retaining a habit of life which, although probably 

 of no use to it now, is generally characteristic of its close allies. It 

 would be very interesting to know whether it ever comes above ground, 

 as the Arabs assert that males and females are never found in the same 

 burrows. The area, however, which I examined was so cut up by 

 runs from various centres that it is easy to conceive that the burrows of 

 different sexes occasionally intersect and communicate with one another. 



