6 



FAEMEES' BULLETIN 583. 



admit UhI that the mole is a carnivorous animal. There is little to 

 be gained by quibbling over the fact that a small quantity of vegetable 

 matter is sometimes found in the mole's stomach. The economic 

 status of an animal ought not to be prejudiced by laying undue 

 emphasis on its trifling digressions from the normal. 



From an examination of the stomach contents of 200 moles taken 

 in all months of the year it was found that earthworms and white 

 grubs constitute the bulk of the food. Beetles and their larvae 

 and other insects that enter the ground, spiders, centipedes, cocoons, 

 and puparia also form a part of the diet. In one stomach were found 

 the remains of 171 small white grubs, in another 250 ant puparia, 

 in another 10 cutworms, and in another 12 earthworms. -The 

 presence of starchy material in some of the stomachs is proof that the 

 mole occasionally finds vegetable food, as certain seed grains softened 

 by contact with the moist soil, an acceptable addition to its worm and 

 insect diet. Seed coats of corn, wheat, oats, and peanuts have been 

 identified in a few stomachs. 



In captivity moles ravenously eat beefsteak, flesh of birds, fish, 

 or almost any sort of fresh meat. Owing to their activity they 

 sometimes consume each day a bulk of food equal to their own weight. 

 In an experunent with over 30 captive moles the writer has known 

 but one to touch field corn or tubers when placed within easy access. 

 A few ate green sweet corn from the cob, but numbers starved to 

 death when supplied with white potatoes and sweet potatoes. 



INJURY AND DEPREDATIONS. 



Complaints of damage or depredations by moles are frequent and 

 insistent. In most cases, perhaps, the charges if investigated would 

 be sustained by the evidence presented; for in situations where the 

 mole is not wanted it is considered an intolerable nuisance. In very 

 many cases, on the other hand, a thorough investigation would show 

 that the small rodents which follow in the mole's runways are wholly 

 responsible for the damage to seed grains and cultivated food products 

 that grow underground. 



In lawns, parks, cemeteries, kitchen gardens, flower beds, and lika 

 situations the mole may be regarded fi'om our standpoint as a useful 

 animal out of place. In pursuing its natural inclination to tunnel 

 through the soil in search of food it injures roots of plants, displaces 

 seeds, upridges the sod, and leaves passageways for plunderers to 

 follow. Not only are grasses, plants, and flowers thus materially 

 injured, but unsightly ridges are left. The presence of moles in these 

 situations probably is evidence of a heavy infestation of the soil 

 by white grubs, but the case in point is only another illustration 

 of the old saying that the remedy may be worse than the disease. 



