MOLE, Talpa, a genus of quadrupeds of the order and family talpidal. All the ta/pid(e live chiefly underground, and their structure is adapted to their mode of life. In their general form, the character of their fur, the shortness of their limbs, the great mus cular strength of the fore-parts, and great breadth of the fore-paws, the elongated head, the elongated and flexible snout, the smallness of the eyes, and the complete concealment of the ears, they all resemble the Coituox .11oLE (T. Eampera), with which also they pretty nearly agree in the nature of their food, their mode of seeking it, their dentition, and the shortness of their alimentary canal.—The common mole is abundant in most parts of Europe, except the utmost n. and the utmost south. In Britain it is very plentiful, except in the 11. of Scotland; but is not found in Ireland nor in some of time Scottish islands. Instead of its ordinary uniform black color, it is occasionally found yellowish white, or gray, and even orange. Its silky or velvety fur lies smoothly in every direc tion, the short hairs growing perpendicularly from the skin; a peculiarity which pre serves it clean as the animal moves either backwards or forwards in its subterranean galleries. The fore-paws are not only very broad, but are turned outwards, for the better throwinL. back of the earth in burrowing. They. are terminated by five long and strong claws. The phalangeal bones are remarkable for breadth and an elongated bone of the carpus gives additional strength to the lower edge of the paw. The two bones of the forearm are fastened together. The shoulder-blades and the clavicles are very large: and the sternum has an elevated ridge as in birds and bats, for the attachment of power ful muscles. The muscles which the.head are also very powerful, and the cervi cal ligament is even strengthened by. a peculiar bone; the mole. making much use of its flexible snout in burrowing. The hinder limbs. are comparatively feeble, and the feet small, with five toes. The eyes are black-and very small, capable. of being partially retracted and exserteo. The senses of hearing, taste, and smell are very strongly devel oped in the mule. The cutting-teeth are very small and sharp; the canines long and sharp; the true molars broad, with many sharp conical elevations. This dentition adapts the animal for feeding not only on worms and grubs, but also on frogs, birds, and small quadrupeds, which accordingly are its occasional prey, although earthworms are its chief food. The mole is an excessively voracious animal; digestion is rapid, and no long interval can be endured between meals, hunger soon ending in death. When pressed by hunger, it will attack and devour even one of its own kind; and its practice is imme to tear.open the belly of any bird or, quadruped which it has killed, and inserting its head, to satiate itself with the blood. In eating earthworms, it skins them with remarkable dexterity. In quest of them, it works its way underground, throwing up the earth in mole-hills; more rarely in the fine nights of summer it seeks for them on the surface of the ground, when it is itself apt to be picked up by an owl equally in want of food. The habitation of the mole is of very remarkable construction; a hillock of earth
larger than an ordinary mole-hill, and containing two circular galleries, one above the other, with five connecting passages, and a central chamber which has access to the upper gallery by three passages; whilst about nine passages lead away from the lower gallery in different directions. The end of a passage entering a gallery on one side is never oppo site to the end of a passage entering on the other. To afford all facility of escape in case of any alarm, a passage leads at first downwards from the central chamber, and then upwards again till it joins one of the high roads which the mole keeps always open, which are formed by pressing the earth till it becomes smooth and compact, and are not marked by any mole-hills thrown up, and which not only serve for escape when neces sary, but lead to those parts of the creature's appropriated domain where the ordinary mining for worms is to be prosecuted. The nest in which the female. mole produces her young is not this habitation, but is formed generally under a mole-hill rather larger than usual, where two or three runs meet, and is lined with leaves and other. warm materials. The mole breeds both in tpring aticUtutuinn, and generally prOduces, four or five young at a birth. The attachment of the parent moles seems to be strong, but transitory.
It has been sometimes alleged -that moles eat vegetable as well as animal food, and that they arc injurious to farmers, by devouring carrots and other roots; but it appears rather that they only gnaw roots when in the way of their mining operations, or perhaps, also, in quest of grubs which they contain. Moles are generally regarded as a pest by farmers and gardeners, owing to the injury which mole-hills do to lawns and pastures, the bury ing Up of young plaids, and'the disturbance of their roots. But they are certainly of use in time economy of nature in preventing the excessive increase of some other crea tures; and probably also contribute to the fertility,of some pastures, by the continual tillage which they carry on. Mole-traps of various kinds are in use, which are planted, if the mole-catcher is skillful, in the often-traversed roads of the animals. Mule-catching has long been a distinct trade in Britain.
The name mole is abbreviated from the old English name mouldicarp, or motddiwarp, still provincially used, and which is derived from the Anglo-Saxon molde, mould, and weorpan, to throw up.
Another species of mole (7. caca) is found in the most southern parts of Europa; very similar to the common mole, but rather smaller, and having the eye always covered by the eyelid, so as to justify Aristotle's statement that the mole is blind.—A species, also very similar to the common mole, is found in North America.
Among the other talpidce are the CHARGEABLE MOLE, or CAPE MOLE (chrysochlorts capensis) of South Africa, which is remarkable as the only one of the mammalia that exhibits the splendid metallic reflections so frequently seen in some other classes of ani mals; the SHREW MOLE (q.v.) and the STAR NOSE (q.v.) of North America.