ORDER OP INSECTIVOEA. 



509 



the Mole-catchers collect around it, and with a spade the various 

 galleries are cut off; then the apartment itself is opened, and the 

 nest reached. 



Moles are also got rid of by poison ; insects and other animal 

 matters impregnated with poisonous substances being introduced 

 into their burrows. Strong fumigations are also used to drive 

 them away, such as sprinkling their galleries with an infusion of 

 garlic and oil of petroleum. 



It is very diiBcult to keep Moles in captivity, as much trouble 

 is entailed in procuring for them the enormous number of insects 

 they daily devour. To this it may be added that the Mole can- 

 not accommodate itself to confinement ; to enclose it in a box, or 

 even in a room, is to bring about its death. It is soon affected 



Fig. 222. — Mole-traj s. 



with subterranean nostalgia, and pines away for want of the 

 aliment necessary to its febrile activity. 



Dr. Franklin, however, relates that an American, Mr. Titian 

 Peale, succeeded in taming one. This Mole ate and drank a great 

 deal ; its regimen consisted of cooked or raw meat. Naturally 

 lively, it followed the hand of its master by scent, frequently went 

 to burrow under ground, but always returned for its food. 



The flesh of the Mole is not comestible ; it exhales a repugnant 

 odour, and rapidly becomes putrid. Owing to the small size 

 of its skin its fur cannot be of great utility. In the reign of 

 Louis Xy. the ladies of the Court put it to an unheard-of use — 

 to compensate for the parsimony of nature they thought fit to 

 replace their eyebrows by narrow strips of Mole's skin. This is 



