THE "CHESTNUT-WORM" AND ITS ENEMIES. 



355 



has so far discovered nothing that will 

 prevent nuts from becoming wormy. 

 The quadruped is a small mammal 

 known as the short-tailed shrew. This 

 little mammal is not very well known 

 to people in general, not nearly so well 

 known as it should be ; for it is very 

 abundant in the country and is of much 

 economic importance. The hexapod is 

 a little, wasp-like insect that does not 

 yet have an English name but which is 

 dignified with the scientific name Urosei- 

 galphus armatus. 



The short-tailed shrew is about the 

 size of the common house mouse. It 

 has a pointed nose, short tail, and is 

 pig-like in build. The eyes are very 

 small and the ears short. The body is 



during the fall, winter and spring 

 months the shrews feast upon the 

 worms. If in the fall or winter any one 

 will take the trouble to dig into the 

 surface of the ground beneath the 

 branches of bearing chestnut-trees, es- 

 pecially if the trees are in the woods, 

 he will find, just beneath the leaf-mold, 

 a net-work of burrows and run-ways 

 that are used by the shrews. If he is 

 in doubt as to what animals are keeping 

 these burrows worn smooth by constant 

 use let him set some mouse-traps, baited 

 with meat, in a few of them. His catch 

 will probably consist of a few white- 

 footed mice, an occasional pine mouse 

 and possibly a long-tailed shrew or two 

 but the short-tailed shrews which he 



ADULT PARASITE OF THE "CHESTNUT- 

 WORM." 



The larva of this little wasp kills the worm 

 after it enters the ground. 



covered with a thick coat of velvety fur 

 of a glossy slate-color. It lives for the 

 greater part of its life under-ground 

 and feeds on grubs, beetles, snails or 

 flesh of almost any kind that may come 

 in its way. It has a ravenous appetite 

 and day and night, winter and summer, 

 it is busy searching for food. The ten- 

 der, juicy chestnut-worms are exactly 

 to its liking. I have frequently fed 

 shrews in captivity on these worms and 

 have been surprised at the number they 

 would eat. 



It happens that the hibernating quar- 

 ters of the chestnut-worms are directly 

 in the hunting-grounds of the shrew and 



COCOON OF THE PARASITE. 



Three of these cocoons have the heads 

 of "chestnut-worms" adhering to them. 

 The head is all that is left of the worm 

 after the parasite is through with it. 



takes will most likely greatly out-number 

 all the others combined. A look at the 

 burrows will convince anyone that the 

 worm that would seek hibernating quar- 

 ters in such a place must take its life in 

 its hands. About the only worms that 

 escape are those that make their cells 

 in gravelly soil where the shrew finds 

 it hard digging or in crevices between 

 stones and roots. There is perhaps no 

 other agency that does so much to re- 

 duce the numbers of weevils, and thus 

 prevent all the chestnuts from becoming 

 wormy, as this little friend of the nut- 

 grower, the short-tailed shrew. 



At about the time the adult weevils 



