INSECTIVORA; 



OR, INSECT-EATING ANIMALS. 



MONG the animals which are comprised in the Insect-eating group, we find the 

 Mole, the various Shrews, and the Hedgehog, as examples of the Talpid^e, or 

 the family of the Moles. 



As the food of these creatures is almost exclusively composed of insects, 

 snail, worms, and similar animals, it is necessary that their teeth should be 

 formed in a manner suitable to seizing and retaining their prey. Accordingly, 

 on opening the mouth of a mole, a shrew, or a hedgehog, we find that none of the 

 teeth are provided with flattened surfaces for the purpose of grinding the food, but that even 

 the molar teeth are covered with sharp points, which are admirably suited for piercing and 



retaining their active prey, or for tearing 

 it to pieces when it has been killed. All 

 the insectivorous animals are plantigrade 

 in their walk. 



Some of these creatures, such as the 

 shrew, present so close an external resem- 

 blance to the common mice, that they are 

 popularly supposed to belong to the same 

 class, and are called by the same general 

 name. Many species live beneath the sur- 

 face of the earth, and seek in that dark 

 hunting-ground the prey which cannot be 

 enticed to the surface in sufficient numbers 

 to supply adequate nourishment for the 

 ever hungry worm-devourers. 



Of all the insect-eating animals there 

 is none which is better known by name 

 than the common Mole, and very few 

 which are less known by their true char- 

 acter. 



On inspecting a living Mole that has 

 been captured on the surface of the earth, 

 and comparing it with the multitudinous 

 creatures that find their subsistence on the 

 earth's surface, rejoicing in the full light 

 of day, and free to wander as they please, 

 we cannot but feel some emotions of surprise at the sight of a creature which is naturally 

 debarred from all these sources of gratification, and which passes its life in darkness below 

 the surface of the ground. 



Yet this pity, natural though it be, will be entirely thrown away, for there is scarcely 

 any creature that lives which is better fitted for enjoyment, or which is urged by more fiery 

 passions. Dull and harmless as it may appear to lie, it is in reality one of the most ferocious 

 animals in existence, and will engage in the fiercest combats upon very slight provocation. 



TaJpa europaea. 



