OEDEE OE INSECTIYOEA. 
507 
is impelled by a greater desire to destroy and feast upon 
living prey. “ The Mole,” says Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 
“ does not experience a sense of hunger like other animals ; with 
it this want is of the most powerful description : it is an ex- 
haustion which is felt as a kind of frenzy.” It first attacks the 
belly of its victim, plunges the whole of its head into the pal- 
pitating entrails, and gloats with rapture over its carnage. 
Take two Moles of the same sex, place them before each other 
in a room, and in a very short time the strongest will have 
devoured the weakest. 
Moles rarely come to the surface of the ground, except when 
changing their residence, or when the two sexes are seeking each 
other. 
During the rainy period they take refuge in elevated places, 
but descend to the valleys when the dry weather arrives. Not- 
withstanding these precautions, they are at times sufferers from 
inundation. When the rivers overflow their banks, numbers may 
be seen flying from the flood, and trying to reach ground that 
the waters will not cover. 
Although Moles destroy an enormous quantity of larvse and 
perfect insects, they are none the less looked upon as very preju- 
dicial to agriculture, because of the mischief they commit in 
digging their galleries among cultivated plants. Although they 
do not feed on the roots of vegetables, as has often been sup- 
posed, they cut them in making their passages. In addition to 
this, when they are preparing their nest, they seize the plants 
by the root and gradually drag them underground, with the 
intention of converting them into a bed for their progeny. 
There have been found in the nest of one Mole no fewer than 
402 leaved stalks of barley, which had been withdrawn from the 
surface of the ground in this way. Finally, the Mole-hills that 
stud the fields prove troublesome to the mower, and prevent him 
cutting the plants as close as desirable. 
Such are the complaints that agriculturists bring against this 
excavator. Certainly they are not altogether unfounded ; but 
then we respond by pointing out, on the other hand, the services 
the Mole renders as an insectivorous animal ; and again, in show- 
ing that these galleries, which are declared to be injurious, con- 
stitute so many natural drainage canals, incontestably useful. 
