The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-07-29
LORE OF THE MOLE.
The Fiercest Animal in the World in Pro-
portion to Its Size.


world?" asked a writer of zoologist.
The mole, he replied. You are sur
prised, but such, in my opinion. is the
fact People ordinarily look upon the
mole as sluggish and harmless crea-
ture, spending its life in cropping blind
ly underground. As usual. the popular
idea is a mistaken one. The mole is in
reality the most ferocious and most
active of animals. Imagine it magnitied
to the size of a tiger and you would
have a more terrible beast than the
world has yet seen. Though with de-
i fective powers of vision and therefore
incapable of following its prey by sight,
1t would be agile beyond conception,
springing this way and that as it went
along, leaping with lightning quiclSness
upon any creature which it met, rend-
ing ii to pieces in a moment, devouring
the yet warm and bleeding flesh and in
stantly seeking, with hunger insatia-
! BILE, for a fresh victim.
This creature would. without hesi-
! tation. devour a serpent twenty feet in
length. ,and SO tremendous would be
its voracity that it would eat twenty or
thirty such snakes in the course of a
day. With one grasp of its teeth and a
single clutch of its claws it could dis
| enbowel an OK. and. IL IL should happen
to enter fold of sheep or an Enclosure
of cattle, il would kill them all for the
mere lust of slaughter. Let two such
animals meet and how terrific would be
the battle, Fear is a feeling which the
mole seems never to entertain. In con-
fiict with an adversary of its own kind
its efforts are exclusively directed to in
juring its opponent without regard for
its own protection. An examination Ct
the skeleton of a mole will repay your
trouble. so wonderful is its adaptation
of structure 10 its manner of life. 1t
looks like veritabse machine for dig.
ging, and it has several accessory bones
which are not found in any other living
beast. being discovered only in certain
fossil forms
The mole is gifted with Incredible
activity. 1t pursGes the earth worms
on which it chiefly feeds with an energy
that is untiring, and. when it has
caught one, il devours the prey like a
starving tiger. rending il with its pow.
crful claws and teeth. Occasionally it
will capture bird and tear it to frag.
ments, devouring eagerly the bleeding
flesh. DuriSg the latter part of June
MIR. Mole falls in love. and in his at.
tachments he is As furious as in all
other phases of his nature. At that
period he can not meet another male of
NN-tfl E,N1, sc.
the death. He constructs a bridal
chamber for his chosen spouse at the in.
tersection of two of his tunnels, 50 that
there is more than one way of escape
for himself and the young ones in case
danger threatens. This chamber is
partly filled with dried grass for
couch, and it is always at some distance
from Mr. Mole's dwelling proper,
The subtcrranean dwelling of Mr..
Mole is wonderful labyrinth. No
human being could very well find his
way about in it, surprising that its di-
mansions We're sufficiently magniiied to
admit his passage through the maze of
tunnels, The latter compose network
as complicated rs that of the sewers of
metropolis. II must not be imagined
that the animal burrows at random,
On the contrary, it works on a well-de-
fined system, though how it forms its
burrows in such admirable straight
lines, always laboring in the blacklist
darkness, is a mystery. The home OF
the beast is in hillock. under the
shelter of some tree or bank. so as to be
inconspicuous. Here is its center of
operations, from which regular roads
lead off in different directions to e.
feeding grounds, If you dig into the
hillock you discover a very elaborate
and wonderful structure.
The central apartment of the dwell
ing is nearly spherical chamber.
around which run circular passages,
one on level with the ceiling and the
other at some height above, The upper
circle is much smaller than the lower
one. Five short and nearly vertical
passages connect these galleries with
each other When Mr. Mole enters his
house from one of the tunnels he has
first to get into the lower gallery,
thence to ascend into the upper gallery |
and SO descend into the chamber. How !
ever. there is another entrance to the !
chamber from below by a passage which
dips downward from the middle of the !
spherical room, then curving upward /
and finally opening into one of the big |
ger tunnels or highroads OF these
highroads there are seven or eight
owing to the peculiar habits Of the |
mole comparatively little is known
about the animal and its ways The
use of this labyrinth and complicated
system of tunnels, the latter usually
extending over, or rather under, a very
great space of ground. is in some degree !
a mystery. One object of the arrange !
ment is doubtless chat the owner, in !
ease of alarm, shall be able to make his
escape. by the continual pressure of
the creatures fur the walls of the !
chamber and passages are rendered
smooth, hard and polished. - that the
roof will not fall in even after the most
severe storm. The mole can swim ex-
ceilcntly and it often sinks wells for the !
purpose of obtaining water to drink. 4
In fact, it possesses most varied accom-
plishments, and consider that in point
of fcrocity, activity and voracity it is T!
superior even to the great eats of the +.
tropics "-WaShington Star.