MOLE, a small insectivorous mammal of the family Talpidce. They are related to the still smaller shrews (Soricida), from which the typical species may be distinguished by having the external ears so short that they are completely concealed in the fur, the fore feet broad and shovel-like, the skull provided with an auditory bulla and a zygomatic arch and numerous other characters. The moderate number of species, belonging to 11 genera, are found only in the temperate portions of the northern hemisphere. Three species, the com mon mole (Scalops aquaticus), the hairy-tailed mole (Parascalops breweri) and the star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) occur in the eastern United States. The fourth genus (Scapanus), with six species, is confined to the Pacific coast. The second is the smallest and is also distin guished by its densely hairy tail and numerous teeth. It is not common and is found chiefly in mountains and about evergreen forests. The star-nosed mole is known at once by the rosette of fleshy processes on the snout and its larger size; both it and the common mole are abun dant in cultivated lands and pastures, the former preferring moist, the latter dry lands.
Their habits differ only in details. Moles are eminently fossorial — a mode of life for which they are by structure peculiarly adapted. They construct underground nests lined with soft grasses, from which several passages run off in different directions, and by branching become finally divided into a network of burrows which daily enlarges as the animal searches for the earthworms and insects on which it almost ex clusively feeds. They seldom come to the sur face except just at noon— a habit which has been repeatedly observed but never explained. The young are born in the nest and some species raise two broods. Notwithstanding its scientific name the common mole shuns water while the star-nosed mole shows a decided predilection for its vicinity and is an expert swimmer. Consult Stone and Cram, Animals) (1903).