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XIX.— »SW(? Obsermtwns on the Natural His- 
tory and Habits of the Mole. 
By the Rev. James Grierson, M. D. M. W. S. 
Minister of Cockpen. 
(Read 9th March IS^S>,) 
The adaptation of the objects of Nature to one another, 
and to the state in which they are found to exist, must, to 
every intelhgent observer, appear beautiful and striking. 
This is perhaps nowhere more conspicuous than in the 
structure and instincts of animals. Like all other things, 
however, it affects us the less forcibly in proportion as it is 
familiar and ordinary. There are many animal instincts 
and dispositions that would appear exceedingly curious, 
and in the highest degree interesting, were it not for their 
familiarity. Not to speak of the bee, the ant, the swallow, 
and many others well known, there is, I think, something 
exceedingly interesting in the structure and habits of the 
Common Mole (Talpa Europcea of Linn^us). 
Had we never seen or heard of such an animal and its 
operations, and were we to be told by a traveller, that there 
