OEDER OP INSECTIVOEA. 



505 



it, as they prove an obstacle to its labours. Digging with head 

 and paws, it rapidly hollows out what is in every sense its domain. 

 In this way it makes a system of communicating passages, which 

 well merit our attention. The system is composed of a central 

 chamber, hollowed out in the form of a dome, from around which 

 radiate seven or eight trenches, which, rectilinear at their origin. 



rig. 221. — St^ction of interior ot a Mule-hill. 



afterwards become canals, and send prolongations to the surface 

 of the ground. The points where these galleries meet the upper 

 face of the soil are marked by the little eminences of earth, 

 named mole-hills, which are so frequently observed in the fields, 

 and which are nothing more than the rubbish thrown out by the 

 animal. The central excavation is the animal's ordinary resting- 

 place. To reach it, it has first to enter a circular gallery, situated 



