By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



315 



toad at various distances from the fortress. Such is a very hasty 

 description of this most singular structure ; and nothing surely can 

 be imagined more admirably calculated to ensure the security or the 

 retreat of the inhabitant, than such an arrangement of internal 

 routes of communication as this. The chamber communicating 

 beneath directly with the road, and above with the upper gallery — 

 this with the lower by five passages, and the latter again with the 

 road by no less than nine — exhibit altogether a complication of 

 architecture which may rival the more celebrated erections of the 

 beaver." So says Mr. Bell, in whose expressive and clear words I 

 have preferred to describe this interesting portion ot my subject. 

 It is however to the indefatigable labours of two French natu- 

 ralists that we are indebted for our chief acquaintance with the 

 economy and habits of the mole, and especially of its excavations, 

 to M. Cadet de Faux, who devoted a great deal of time to this 

 subject, and to M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, who also prosecuted very 

 careful researches on the point ; and it was not until after a long 

 series of very minute observations and experiments, carried on some- 

 times together and sometimes independently of one another, that 

 these eminent and very patient naturalists arrived at the desired 

 results, and satisfied themselves that J Jiey had mastered the somewhat 

 complicated arrangement of the excavated galleries and chamber of 

 the mole's fortress. 



Of the nest or nursery of the mole, I have little to add beyond the 

 fact "that it is always quite distinct from the fortress, and generally 

 placed at a considerable distance from it, (as a skilful general would 

 naturally desire to remove the female and infantine portion of the 

 community during the time of siege to a place of security apart 

 from the din of war,) for the males are remarkably pugnacious, and 

 battles, which terminate in the death of one at least of the combat- 

 ants, are of very frequent occurrence. The nest has no claim to 

 elaborate design : it is but an excavated chamber, warmly lined with 

 fine grass, and appears to be placed in a remote portion of the domain, 

 where it may have the best chance of escaping discovery from any 

 prowling marauder in the form of a rat, weasel, or other murderous 

 enemy. 



