THE MOLE. 39

The mole is mentioned in our translation of the Scriptures
in the following verse :—Isaiah ii. 20: “ In that day a man
shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which
they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles
and to the bats.” The original word has been very variously
rendered. In the Septuagint it is translated vanities; in other
versions, pits, or holes ; but it is more generally understood
to mean some one of those animals which burrow in the
ground ; and it.is probable that the word rendered “ mole”
did not define any particular animal of this class, but was
intended to intimate that the idols should be cast into dark
and secret places, such as are inhabited by the mole and the
bat, or by animals possessing similar habits.

The old English name of the mole, of which the present
is merely a contraction, was mouldiwarp, or mouldwarp,
which simply means that which casts up the soil. In some
parts of Scotland this is changed into moudiewark, or
moudie ; all containing allusions to the mode in which the
animal works in the mould. There is a species existing at
the Cape of Good Hope called the golden mole, from the
extreme brilliancy of its hue. That of England is called
Talpa Europea ; the blind mole, Talpa ceca.