rs, adapted to their different habits.

The mole is an instance of one of these minor groups; which, with one
exception, has a portion of sight in spite of its reputation for being
blind. Its smell and hearing, however, are so acute, that they make up
for the deficiency in the other sense, a highly developed organ for
which, would be very much in the way of an animal which makes its
habitation within the earth, and which rarely comes to the surface in
the day time. Its fore-feet are largest, and powerful muscles enable it
to dig up the soil and roots which oppose the formation of its
galleries, and which are thrown up as they become loosened. The nose,
or snout, is furnished with a bone at the end, with which it pierces the
earth, and in one genus this bone has twenty-two small, cartilaginous
points attached to it, which can be extended into a star. A vein lies
behind the ear of all, the smallest puncture of which causes instant
death.

The food of moles chiefly consists of worms, and the larvae, or grubs of
insects, of which they eat enormous quantities. They are extremely
voracious, and the slightest privation of food drives them to frenzy, or
kills them. They will all eat flesh, and when shut up in a cage without
nourishment, have been known to devour each other. There is a remarkable
instance of a mole, when in confinement, having a viper and a toad given
to it, both of which it killed and devoured. All squeeze out the earthy
matter which is inside worms, before eating them, which they do with the
most eager rapidity. In June and July, they prowl upon the surface of
the ground, generally at night, but they have been seen by day, and this
is the time in which they indulge in fleshy food, for then they catch
small birds, mice, frogs, lizards, and snails; but although when in
confinement one was known to eat a toad, they generally refuse these
reptiles, probably from the acrid humour which exudes from their skin.
They, on these occasions of open marauding, are often caught and
devoured in their turn by owls at night, and dogs by day. They have a
remarkable power of eating the roots of the colchicum, or meadow
saffron, which takes such powerful effect on other animals, and which
they probably swallow for the sake of the larvae or worms upon them. Such
is their antipathy to garlic, that a few cloves put into their runs,
will cause their destruction.

A French naturalist, of the name of Henri Lecourt, devoted a great pa