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everywhere their small tunnels may be found. In no respect, that I know, 

 are they injurious, but in all laborers in their little spheres for good. It has 

 been thought, from the number of dead shrews that are sometimes found, 

 that these little mammals are subject to epidemics. 



They are naked and blind at birth. None hibernate, but all move about 

 in the coldest weather. Shrews seem to be rejected as food by other ani- 

 mals, on account of an unpleasant odor they emit. Often have I known a 

 cat to catch one and carry it about for some time, apparently loth to give it 

 up, but never eating it and, in the end, rejecting it. Many superstitions are 

 prevalent in Europe, particularly in Great Britain, regarding these little 

 creatures but, so far as T know, nohe of them are notable in tlie folk-lore of 

 our land. 



The most abundant shrew in our state, and perhaps the most widely dis- 

 tributed in the United States, is the short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicavda, 

 (Say ) . An interesting account of u nest of this species is given by my friend, 

 Mr. Charles Dury, of Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, in a letter of Dec. 28, 1891. 

 The notes have since been published, (Journal Cincinnati Sdc. Nat. Hist., 

 1892, p. 183), and I give them here: 



"It is well known to entomologists that some very curious and interesting- 

 insects live in the nests of mice and other small mammals. December lo. 

 1891, I went out to hunt nests of 'field mice,' in hopes of finding a wonder- 

 ful little beetle, called Leptimus testaceous, said to live in such nests. This 

 species was an especial desideratum to me, as I had never succeeded in find- 

 ing it. I went to an old orchard, and under the first log rolled over I dis- 

 covered a nest and secured a mouse as she rushed out. She proved to be 

 the 'Short-tailed Meadow Shrew,' Blarina brevicauda, (Say). The nest was 

 made of small bits of leaves of the sycamore tree, lined with grass fibers, 

 and situated in a hole or pocket excavated in the ground. I lifted the nest 

 into the sifting net and sifted it over a sheet of white paper, and was over- 

 whelmed at the result. The fine debris was a jumping, crawling mass of 

 insect life, beetles, fleas, ticks and larvse. I gathered and bottled 106 Lep- 

 timns, and many ran over the edge of the paper and escaped. There were 

 over a hundred large, vicious looking fleas, most energetic biters (as I dis- 

 covered from those that secured a lodgment in my clothing). How the 

 mouse could live in such a den in a mystery. The other beetles associated 

 with Leptimus were Staphylinidx, or ' Rove Beetles ' of species new to me, and 

 so far I have been unable to identify them. Leptimus is a small, fiat beetle, 

 of a pale testaceous color, one-eighth inch long, without any trace of eyes." 



