THE MOLE, 37

the deficiency in that of sight, which, indeed, would be a
useless gift to an animal destined to a subterraneous ex-
istence. But even this deficiency is not so great as has been
supposed ; the idea of the total blindness of the common
mole is an error, which has been handed down from one
naturalist to another since the time of Aristotle, who, in all
probability, took his opinion from the species living in
Italy, Greece, and other parts of the south of Europe, in
which the eyes are merely rudimental, not larger than a
grain of mustard-seed, and with no opening in the lids.

There is a passage in Shakspeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’
which has been quoted by almost every describer of the
mole, since the time Shakspeare wrote. But notwithstand-
ing the number of times this short passage has been alluded
to, we shall quote it again for the purpose of doing justice
both to the mole and to the poet. The passage to which
we allude is as follows :-—

“Pray you tread softly, that the blind mole may not
Hear s foot fall.”

The scene of this passage is laid in the neighbourhood of
Venice, and the mole of that country is the blind one, but
whether Shakspeare was aware that the moles of that
country have the eyelids unopened, is a question which we