148 
VERTEBRATA. 
For the excavation of tlie galleries which these animals make in pursuit of insects and worms, 
and in which they almost constantly reside, their anterior limbs, although short, are exceedingly 
powerfal, and so arranged as to form most efficient instruments for digging. In the common 
PORE-FOOT OF THE MOLE. HIND-FOOT. HEAD OF MOLE. 
mole of Europe, the hones of the arm are very short and strong, and the limb is terminated by a 
broad, flat, and shovel-like hand, armed with long and strong claws, furnished with a curved 
prolongation of one of the carpal bones, called falciform hone, which gives additional strength 
to the hand, and is so placed that its palm is naturally turned directly backward. By the agency 
THE COMMON MOLE. 
of these digging hands, the mole burrows with great rapidity, and the galleries which it forms 
are of a very complicated nature. 
The Common Mole, T. Uuropcea, is found in most parts of Europe, and is well known for its 
curious cylindrical form, and the blackness of its velvet-like coat. Its eyelids are open, and it has 
been proved by experiment to have the power of sight, although it is a popular belief that the 
mole is quite blind : this, indeed, is the case with another species, inhabiting the south of Europe, 
T. cceca, which is supposed to be the mole referred to by those ancient naturalists from whose 
statements the charge of blindness has been applied to this species. 
Although the greater part of this animal's labor in digging is undoubtedly expended in the 
pursuit of food, a portion of his excavations are of a more permanent nature, serving for his 
regular residence, and as a high road leading from this to different parts of the district which h& 
has appropriated. His residence consists of a large hillock of earth, firmly beaten together, and 
placed in some secure situation; within this are two circular galleries, one above the other, 
and communicating with each other ; the chamber inhabited by the animal is excavated in the 
center of the lower gallery, and communicates with the upper one by three short passages. From 
