456 
COMMON MOLE. 
erected to Apollo Smintheus. the destroyer of 
moles. 
The moles/-* says Dr. Darwin., have cities 
underground, which consist of houses, or nests, 
where they breed and nurse their young. Com- 
municating with these are wider and more fre- 
quented streets, made by the perpetual journeys 
of the male and female parents ; as well as many 
other less frequented alleys or by-roads, with 
many diverging branches, which they daily ex- 
tend to collect food for themselves or their pro- 
g en y« 
This animal is most active in the vernal 
months, during the time of its courtship ; and 
many more burrows are at this time made in the 
earth for their meeting with each other. And 
though they are commonly esteemed to be blind, 
yet they appear to have some perception of light, 
even in their subterraneous habitations ; because 
they begin their work as soon as it is light, and 
consequently before the warmth of the sun can be 
supposed to affect them. Hence one method of 
destroying them consists in attending to them early, 
before sunrise ; at that time the earth or the grass 
may frequently be seen to move over them ; and 
with a small light spade their retreat may be cut 
off by striking it into the ground behind them, and 
they may be immediately dug up.’" 
If a fresh mole-hill, says another writer, is 
found by itself, that appears to have no communi- 
cation with any other, (which is always the case 
when the mole has worked from the surface dow n- 
wards, as it frequently does in endeavouring to 
procure a more convenient habitation ;) after the 
hill has been turned up by a spade, a bucket of 
water should be poured over the mouth of the 
passage. By these means the animal, which is at 
