—rass I. M O Db ee 
Theft gifts may with reafon be faid to compenfate 
the defect of fight, as they fupply in this animal 
all its wants, and all the purpofes of that fenfe, 
Thus amply fupplied as it is, with every neceflary 
accommodation of life; we muft avoid affenting 
_fo an obfervation of a moft refpectable writer, and 
only refer the reader to the note, where he may find 
the very words of that author; and compare them 
with thofe of our illuftrious countryman, Mr. Ray*. 
It is fuppofed that the verdant circles fo often 
feen in grafs grounds, called by country people 
fairy rings, are owing to the operations of thefe 
animals, who at certain feafons perform their bur- 
rowings by circumgyrations, which loofening the foil, 
gives the furface a greater fertility and ranknefs of 
erafs than the other parts within or without the ring. 
The mole breeds in the {pring, and brings four or 
five young at atime: it makesjits neft of mofs, and 
that always under the largeft hillock, a little below 
* La taupe fans étre aveugle, a les yeux fi petits fi cou- 
verts, qu’elle ne peut faire grand ufage du fens de la Vile: 
en dedommagement la nature tui a donné avec magnificence [” ufage 
du fix zeme fens, &<C. ; 5 
Mr. Ray makes the latter obfervation; but forms from it 
a2 conclufion much more folid and moral. Te oftes ‘taxinos, 
parafiatas amplifimas, novum corpus Jeminale ab bis diverfum et 
JSeparatum 

penem etiam facile omnium, ni fallor, ee 
hongiffimum : ex quibus colligere eff maximaim pre reliquis omnibus 
animalibus voluptatem in coitu hoc abjetium et vile animalculunt 
percipere, ut habeant quod ipfi invideant, qui in hoc fupremas vite 
fue delicias collocant, Raut fyn. quad. 238, 239. 
” | a ea che 
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