LESSON XLVI.
ORDER OUT OF CONFUSION.
“O, mickle is the powerful grace that liesIn herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities,For nought so vile that on this earth doth live,But to the earth some special grace doth give.”
“O, mickle is the powerful grace that liesIn herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities,For nought so vile that on this earth doth live,But to the earth some special grace doth give.”
“O, mickle is the powerful grace that liesIn herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities,For nought so vile that on this earth doth live,But to the earth some special grace doth give.”
“O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities,
For nought so vile that on this earth doth live,
But to the earth some special grace doth give.”
—Shakespeare.
We have now studied some of the mammals of the sea, and a family of mammals which spend a large part of their time on the wing. Let us look next at a species which lives entirely underground,—the mole. In describing the mole-cricket[88]and the “duck-bill,” we noted certain resemblances between these creatures and the moles, taking it for granted that moles, being common and widely distributed creatures, were well known. But in point of fact, what do we know of the structure and habits of this interesting little animal?
The mole is very nearly as unpopular as the bat. Gardeners complain bitterly that the moles destroy their lawns, by raising long furrows which disturb the grass, and that they ruin vegetables and cereal crops by eating the roots. I think the mole must plead guilty to the first charge; it does injure the lawns by raising its unsightly furrows, but it does not eat roots or other vegetable food. It sometimes draws down into the ground stalks of oats, wheat, or barley, to line its nest; it also serves some long-stemmed vegetable in the same way; it also cuts off the roots of vegetables, now and then, if itfinds them in its way as it digs its underground galleries. But the food of a mole is animal—earth-worms, beetles, larvæ and pupæ of insects—and thus the mole offsets its errors and turns the scale of opinion in its own favor, by being exceedingly useful as a destroyer of insects harmful to vegetation.
Looking out on my lawn one morning, I saw that it was badly marred by mole ridges. Tom, the gardener, went over them with the roller, but the next day they were as bad as ever. “Tom,” I said, “you must catch that mole.” That afternoon Tom came into the library, carrying something which looked like a pretty fur purse, held by a short cord.
“I’ve caught him,” he said, “and as you like such things, I have brought him in alive.” So the pretty drab purse was the mole. Alive! He did not look it. Alarmed at his situation, as Tom carried him by his short, nearly bare tail, the little beast had drawn his head, hands, and feet closely into his soft, silky coat, and exhibited only a rigid, fur-covered cylinder. I watched him a few moments, Tom keeping perfectly still, and presently I saw a little red nose and a pair of pink hands stretched out from the fur, as if feeling for something to take hold of. Tom laid his prize on my table, and I proceeded to examine him, as we shall now do.
The common mole, which claims the short and pretty name oftalpa, has a cylindrical body about six inches long and three inches thick. There is no apparent neck. The head tapers quickly off from the line of the shoulders to a little snout of the shape of the tip of a blunt lead-pencil. This snout is about a quarter of an inch long, flexible, of adeep red, tough skin. Under this snout is the mouth, which is very wide and furnished with twenty-two sharp white teeth on each jaw. The two upper and two lower front teeth are long and lap over; the others are smaller and pointed.
Once people said that the mole had no eyes, and needed none, as it lived in the dark underground. But it has two very small, jet black eyes, deeply hidden in its lovely thick fur and covered by a fold of skin. The nostrils and ears of the mole are almost as closely hidden, but internally well developed. We may say then that the creature has sight, somewhat limited and imperfect, but sense of hearing and smell very keen. We can see how wise it is that these delicate organs, the eyes, ears, and nostrils, should be well protected by the thick fur, as the mole burrows underground.
The body of the mole is entirely covered with soft, close, even, fine fur of a deep drab or mouse color, nearly black. No lady dressed in plush was ever more richly arrayed than this little burrower. The tail is short and scantily covered with hair; the legs are very short and strong, and set close to the body. The fore limbs or arms are furnished with broad, flat, five-fingered hands, set with the palms turned outward, so that as the mole digs, it throws the earth to the right and left. The palms of these hands are very singular; they are somewhat callous, of a rose pink, and the fingers are webbed up to the strong, curved nails.
When the animal is removed from the earth the snout and palms soon become peculiarly dry, and this evidently causes pain and irritation. The hind-feet are only about one-quarter the size of the hands. They are webbed, but are not sostrong, and have more slender nails. The broad front feet, or hands, fitted for digging, indicate the underground life of the mole; the webbing of the hands and feet suggest, what we find to be true, that the mole is a good swimmer. Indeed, it often goes from the mainland to islands in lakes, rivers, or ponds to dig out its home.
Wet or stony land does not suit the mole, because it cannot dig its rooms and galleries in such soil. Fertile fields that have been cultivated and loosened by spade and plough are its favorite haunts. It is very wonderful that such a small, soft creature can move and disturb so much earth.
Every mole lives alone and builds for itself an elaborate and comfortable home. This house consists of a central dome, where the earth is well packed and beaten to prevent the percolation of water. A bed made of leaves, grass, and vegetable stems is placed in this room. Around this dome wind and radiate seven or eight long galleries or tunnels, which break off and pass into each other in a curious fashion, so that there is no direct line of approach to the dome. It is evident that this labyrinth of galleries is designed to make the dome safe from intruders, and to enable the mole to elude pursuit.
The mother mole has from four to six little ones at a litter, and she has two litters each year, one in April and one in August. Thus we see that moles multiply rapidly. The mother mole is very careful of her children. The large domed room is their nursery, and she makes them a soft bed. The little moles grow quickly, and in a few weeks are weaned, as they have become able to feed themselves. Whenthey leave their nursery the digging instinct develops in them, and they at once set about making a dome and galleries, and going to housekeeping each one for itself.
While the fur of the mole is exceedingly pretty the skin is so small and delicate that very little use can be made of it, though sometimes it is used for gloves, purses, bags, caps, and mittens. In England, where moles abound, men called “mole-catchers” go about with spades and traps and catch and kill the moles.
The mole is the most hungry and ravenous in proportion to its size and weakness of all mammals. Hunger seems to be a madness with it. Moles eat snails and are very partial to frogs, but oddly enough they will not touch toads. A mole will eat the dead body of a bird, mouse, or small snake, if it finds these in its rambles. If two moles are shut up together without food one will kill and devour the other. Moles drink very freely.
These creatures seldom appear at the surface of the ground. Now and then they will come out of their galleries by night, but strong light is painful to them.
Except for attacking each other when imprisoned and very hungry, moles are quiet and gentle in disposition. No creature, however, is harder to tame and keep in captivity, not because of any violence or uneasiness of disposition, but because of its dislike for daylight, and its need of darkness, coolness, and the slight moisture of the earth below the surface. A mole shut up in a room or box seems seized with a terrible homesickness for its underground haunts, pines away, and soon dies.
It has been stated that a mole will die if left without food for ten or twelve hours, and that moles eat only animal food, refusing all vegetable substances. Though individual moles may have been found of which this is true, the statements are incorrect as applied toallmoles. The mole which Tom brought me, I put into a thick pasteboard box with some air-holes cut in the cover. I put in the box a little flat pan of water, and Tom insisted upon giving the animal some grains of corn and wheat. The mole did not touch these grains, but drank some water. After it had fasted sixteen hours, I gave it boiled rice, which it refused. In two hours more I gave it bread soaked in milk, and of that it ate a little.
After twenty-four hours of captivity, I gave it cracked oats, uncooked, but soaked in milk. This it ate heartily. After it had been thirty-six hours in the box, I let it out in the room, and it at once ran about looking for some place to dig. I threw a large woollen mitten on the floor, and that it soon found, crept into it, thrust its head into the thumb, and remained quiet for some hours. I kept it for several days, during which time it drank water, ate oats soaked in milk, and also took a little raw meat. It pulled and tore at the carpet and upholstery, seeking for places to burrow, but remained for the most of the time in the mitten.
A mole’s skeleton is a nice curiosity for a museum, and is easily prepared. A mole can be quickly and painlessly killed by a sharp blow just back of the head. After it is skinned, lay the carcass near a large hill of ants, or at the edge of a pond, where there are plenty of tadpoles, and soon only the clean white skeleton will remain. Wash this in hotwater and ammonia, and dry it in the sun; then mount it carefully on a little board covered with black, which will set the small white bones in good relief.
These studies of swimming, flying, and burrowing mammals suggest to us the diversity which exists in the great class of mammalian animals. On the ground, and under the ground, in the water, in the air, on the trees, we find the mammals, and at first it might seem impossible to bring order out of this confusion, and divide these almost innumerable creatures into their proper groups. But a careful study of these varied forms has enabled scientists to divide them according to their most peculiar characteristics, putting orders, sub-orders, and families together according to their closest relationships. So, when we study these animals, we are able to decide upon their names and places in the class mammalia. And like all else that is orderly, this classification becomes presently clear and simple.
Let us now set the various divisions of the vertebrate animals in a table which can be easily understood, and will be found convenient for reference. The vertebrate or backboned animals are divided into—
Fishes,Amphibians,Reptiles,Birds,Mammals.
The mammals are divided into various orders beginning with the monotremes, the lowest form of mammalian life, and closing with man, the highest form. So our table stands—
Monotremes: duck-bill, echidna.
Marsupials: having a pouch for the young—kangaroo, opossum.
Edentata: having no teeth on the front of the jaw; sloth, etc.
Cetacea: fish-like creatures, eating animal food—whales, dolphins.
Sirenia: fish-like creatures eating vegetable food.
Insect-eaters: mole, hedge-hog, etc.
Hand-winged creatures: the bats and vampires.
Rodents, or gnawers: with chisel-like front teeth; rats, beavers, etc.
Ungulates or hoofed {even-toed; as cow, sheep, deer, etc.{uneven-toed; as hog, horse, elephant, etc.
Carnivora or flesh-eaters {seals, sea-lions.{dogs, cats, bears, lions, foxes, tigers, etc.
Primates {Quadrumana, or four-handed, as apes and monkeys.{Homo (man).
FOOTNOTES:[88]See Nature Reader, No. 3, p. 123.
[88]See Nature Reader, No. 3, p. 123.
[88]See Nature Reader, No. 3, p. 123.