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THE COAST RAT, OR SAND MOLE. 



The common Mole Rat, which is also known by its Russian name of Slepez, is a native 

 of Southern Russia, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and Syria. Like the ordinary Mole, to which 

 it bears no little external resemblance, it passes its existence in the subterranean tunnels which 

 it excavates by means of its powerful claws. As it but seldom ventures into the light of day, 

 it stands in no need of visual organs, but is compensated for their absence by the very large 

 development of the organs of hearing. The place of the eyes is taken by two little round black 

 specks, which lie under the fur-covered skin, so that even if they were sensitive to light, they 

 would be unable to perceive the brightest rays of the noontide sun. The ears, however, are 

 extremely large, and the hearing is exceedingly sensitive, so that the animal receives earlier 

 information of danger through its sense of hearing than through that of sight, which latter 

 faculty would indeed be useless in its dark abode. Sometimes the Slepez leaves the burrow 

 and lies basking in the warm sunshine, but upon the least alarm, or unexpected sound, it 

 plunges into its tunnel, and 

 will not again make its 

 appearance until it feels 

 perfectly assured of safety. 



Should it be unexpect- 

 edly attacked, it assumes 

 an offensive attitude, and 

 trusting to its delicate sense 

 of hearing to inform it of 

 the direction in which the 

 foe is approaching, bites 

 most savagely with its long 

 chisel-like incisors. While 

 engaged in combat, or while 

 threatening its adversary, 

 it utters a sharp crying 

 snort at short intervals. 



The food of the Mole 

 Rat is believed to be entirely of a vegetable nature, and it is in search of the various plants 

 on which it feeds that it drives its long and complicated tunnels through the soil. It is 

 especially fond of roots, more particularly preferring those of a bulbous character, but 

 will also feed on grain and different fruits, and is said to lay up a store of provisions in a 

 subterranean chamber connected with its burrow. The usual form of the Mole Rat's habi- 

 tation and hunting-ground may be easily imagined. A series of horizontal tunnels, or main 

 roads, are driven through the ground at no great depth from the surface of the earth, and 

 are connected with a number of chambers excavated at some depth, and with an endless 

 variety of shallow passages which are made in the course of the animal's daily peregrina- 

 tions in search of food. 



The Russian peasants have an idea, that if any one will have the courage to seize a Slepez 

 in his bare hands, permit the animal to bite him, and then squeeze it to death between his 

 fingers, he will ever afterwards possess the power of curing goitre by the touch of his hands. 

 The general color of the Slepez is a very light brown, slightly tinged with red in some parts, 

 and fading into an ashen-gray in others. Its total length is about ten or eleven inches, and the 

 tail is wanting. The head is broad, flat on the crown, and terminates abruptly at the muzzle. 

 The feet are short, and the claws small. 



This animal is presumed to be the Blind Mole of the ancient Greek authors, and if so, 

 affords another of the many instances where the so-called errors of the old writers on natural 

 history have proved, on further acquaintance, to be perfectly correct. The specific name 

 typhlus is a Greek word, signifying blind, and has been given to the Slepez on account of its 

 absolute deprivation of external eyes. 



MOLE EAT, OE SLEPEZ— Spalax typhlus. 



The incisor teeth of the Coast Rat, or Sand Mole, are even larger in proportion than 

 those of the preceding animal, and those of the upper jaw are marked by a groove running 



