INSECT-EATERS 73 



farmer, before getting rid of the mole, should carefully balance against 

 each other its uses and the damage it inflicts. In no case, however, is 

 there any excuse for killing the animal. It is sufficient to drive it out 

 if it becomes a nuisance (e.g., from gardens), for there is plenty of good 

 work left for it in the meadows and the fields. The best way of getting 

 rid of it is by sticking bits of the green stalks of the elder (Sambucus) 

 into its runs, or laying about the heads of herrings, or rags dipped 

 in petroleum, such objects being highly offensive to its refined sense of 

 smell. It often, however, burrows only a little farther off, and the 

 nuisance is as bad as before. Prom garden beds it is best kept off by 

 putting in thorns, which injure its sensitive snout. 



E. Distribution. 



The mole is found throughout almost the whole of Europe, in North 

 Africa, and in the western part of Northern and Central Asia. It cannot, 

 however, exist in districts where the soil freezes to a great depth, or 

 where it is very swampy or sandy or subject to being flooded (why not ?); 

 and the same holds good for districts where, owing to the burning heat 

 of the sun, the soil is parched to a considerable depth, resulting in the 

 destruction of all vegetable life, and, therefore, of all animal life under- 

 ground. 



Family 2 : Shrews (Soricidea). 



The Common Shrew (Sorex vulgaris) . 



(Body 2£ inches, tail i inch long.) 



In its mode of life this animal resembles the mole. Its fore-limbs, 

 however, not being widened out into shovels, it is much inferior to 

 the mole in the art of digging and burrowing. Its " runs," accordingly, 

 are only just below the surface of the soil, and it even prefers the natural 

 clefts and rents in the soil or the ready-made passages of the mole. 

 From its underground life, we may explain the velvet-like character 

 of its fur, the small size of its eyes, the fact that the ears are capable of 

 being closed, and the highly-developed sense of touch located in the nose, 

 which here also is prolonged into a snout or proboscis. Its coat varies 

 in colour from reddish-brown to black, the belly only being grayish-white. 

 This colour, as well as its strong, musk-like scent, serve it as excellent 

 means of protection against its enemies. Its teeth point it out as pre- 

 eminently an insect-eater. According to a naturalist, " if these teeth 

 were magnified to the proportions of those of a lion, they would represent 

 a truly terrible instrument of destruction." Another observer, speaking 



