OBSERVATIONS ON THE MOLi!. ^31 
them there: and it is consistent with my own personal 
knowledge, that two moles have been trapped on the island 
within the last two years, one by our mole-catcher, and an- 
other by a son of the gardener. 
The island, since the commencement of my incumbency 
here, has been frequently overflown. I remember, one year, 
the whole surface of the island lay, for nearly twenty-four 
hours, under water, from one foot to eighteen inches in 
depth. Whether the whole race of moles then existing on 
the island might have shared the fate of the Antediluvians, 
or not, I cannot tell. It is not unlikely that a remnant (as 
in the days of Noah) were saved, since my friend the gar- 
dener (Alexander Duff) finds a difiiculty in getting them 
extirpated. It is, I think, by no means improbable, that 
these curious animals carry on a sort of clandestine inter- 
course betwixt the mainland and the island. 
" These few particulars, stated and authenticated as 
above, may serve so far to corroborate and illustrate some 
of your remarks on the history and habits of the Talpa 
Europcea, which I should like very much to peruse. I 
mentioned the above circumstances many years ago to my 
worthy deceased friend Mr Arthur Bruce, who was 
some time ago secretary to the Natural History Society of 
Edinburgh ; whether he published them or no, I have not 
learned *. In the mean time, if you find them of any service 
to you, his utere mecmn; and believe me to be, with cor- 
dial wishes for your success in every laudable investigation, 
" Dear Sir, 
*' Yours sincerely, 
" W. Macritchie." 
• Since this paper has been put to press, I find, on looking into the 
Transactior.s of the Linnean Society, vol. iii. p, 5., that a short notice of 
the above curious fact was sent to that Society, jn 1792, by Mr Bruce. 
gee also Shaw's Gen. Zoology, vol. i. 
