Manchester Memoirs^ Vol. xlviii. (1904), No. 30. 3 



thrown into water, the fur radiates from the eye, and so 

 makes vision possible. He states that he has only seen 

 this once, and then in the case of an expiring mole. 

 Bartholomew, writing in the thirteenth century, seems 

 to refer to the same phenomenon when he says : " et 

 putaverunt aliqui quod illud corium rumpitur pre 

 angustia quando incipit mod, et tunc incipit aperire 

 oculos in moriendo que eos clausos habuit in vivendo."* 

 [" And some men trow that the skin of the mole breaketh 

 for anguish and sorrow when he beginneth to die, and 

 beginneth then to open the eyes in dying that were closed 

 living."] I have been told by a molecatcher that the eyes 

 are so exposed when a mole is taken from the trap, but I 

 have not verified this. I have myself seen the radiation 

 of the fur most distinctly in the case of a living mole. 

 At this season of the year moles work very near the 

 surface of the ground in fields where the young crops are 

 coming up, and may easily be caught by hand. In the 

 case of a male which I caught in this way on April 24 

 of this year, I looked carefully for the eyes as I held the 

 mole in my hand. At first they were not to be seen, but 

 presently a distinct conical cavity was formed by radiation 

 of the fur, at the bottom of which the black circular eye 

 was clearly seen with no protection whatever. The partial 

 exposure of the skin due to the radiation of the fur gave 

 the impression that the fur immediately surrounding the 

 eye was of a lighter shade than the rest. 



Aristotle makes frequent mention of the mole in his 

 works De partibiis aninialiutn and De historia aniinalium, 

 almost invariably referring to the fact that the mole 

 cannot see, though it possesses eyes. In at least two 



*Bartholomc£us Anglicus "De Proprietatibus Rerum," Lib. i8, cap. 

 100, fol. Cologne, 147 1 ; the English version is that of Trevisa, London, 

 1535- 



