The skeleton is here revealed by the Röntgen rays.
Speaking of the prodigious speed with which these animals burrow their way through the ground, Dr. Hart Merriam remarks that in a single night, after rain, they have been known to make a gallery several yards in length, and that he had himself traced a fresh tunnel for nearly a hundred yards. As he says, we can only appreciate the magnitude of this labour by comparison, and "computation shows that, in order to perform equivalent work, a man would have to excavate in a single night a tunnel thirty-seven miles long, and of sufficient size to easily admit of the passage of his body."
The star-nosed mole is peculiar in that its nose is surrounded by a ring of finger-like processes, forming a kind of rosette, which probably acts as a highly sensitive organ of touch; furthermore, it differs from other moles in the great length of its tail, which is nearly as long as its body. Like the mole, this species makes its way through the ground with great speed.
Beneficial as moles undoubtedly are in destroying worms and obnoxious insects, yet they are regarded as a pest both by the farmer and gardener. That there is some justification for this dislike must be admitted; for the farmer suffers in that, in the search for food, crops are damaged by cutting through the roots of plants—the gardener not only for the same reason, but also because the ridges and hillocks which they make in their course disfigure the paths and beds of a well-kept garden.
The nearest allies of the moles are the curious aquatic Desmans of Russia, and the Shrews, some of which are quite mole-like in form, owing to their having adopted a similar mode of life.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
GOLDEN MOLE.
This is found only in South Africa. The name is derived from the wonderful metallic lustre of the fur: the brilliancy of the hues is intensified by immersion in spirit.
The Burrowing Shrews are not the only forms in the great group which have assumed a mole-like shape, for allied to the hedgehog-like Tenrecs is a remarkable animal known as the Golden Mole. The mole-like shape of the body of this animal is another instance of adaptation to a similar mode of life. The fore limb of the golden mole is provided with huge claws, which are used for digging purposes; the hand is not broadened out spade-like, as in the common mole, the claws rendering this unnecessary.