George Edward Dobson and Richard Lydekker

“ The mole is one of the most voracious of mammals, and, if deprived of food, is said to succumb in from ten to twelve hours. Almost any kind of flesh is eagerly devoured by captive moles, which have been seen, as if maddened by hunger, to attack animals nearly as large as themselves, such as birds, lizards, frogs, and even snakes; toads, however, they will not touch, and no form of vegetable food attracts their notice. If two moles be confined together without food, the weaker is invariably devoured by the stronger. ”

“ The common mole is an animal about six inches in length, with a tail of one inch. The body is long and cylindrical, and, owing to the forward position of the front limbs, the head appears to rest between the shoulders; the muzzle is long and obtusely pointed, terminated by the nostrils, which are close together in front; the minute eye is almost hidden by the fur; the ear is without a conch, opening on a level with the surrounding skin ”

“ It extends from England to japan, and from the Dovre-Fjeld Mountains in Scandinavia and the Middle Dwina region in Russia to southern Europe and the southern slopes of the Himalaya, where it occurs at an elevation of 10,000 ft. ”