onduct of a spider ; Addison 
ind force me to asm 
e examinations into the natural history of this sec- 
fone he country,* I have several times confined to my study 
ferns of the smaller animals captured in the fields and woods, for 
the purpose of witnessing their artifices and stratagems, the im- 
pulses of their nature. The results of some of my observations 
during the attempts at domestication of a few minor quadrupeds, 
are given below: whether what is there communicated is new to 
the naturalist, or being new is sufficiently interesting to be wor- 
thy of being presented to any of your readers, you have a better 
opportunity of knowing than I have. 
Sorer brevicaudatus, or Short-tailed Shrew.—This nimble lit- 
tle creature, placed in an empty box, was observed to be very 
adroit in catching flies thrown in to him; but he never ran 
across the box to seize them, nor on any occasion did I ever dis- 
cover that he left the sides and corners of it. Some cooked meat 
was given him the evening he was caught, and soon after eating 
it he died, but whether in consequence of being poisoned by the 
condiments upon the meat, or of the injuries inflicted while cap- 
turing him, I cannot tell. 
In the spring of 1842 I caught another shrew, under a very 
rotten log, which it had converted into a perfect labyrinth ; and 
in the largest excavation it had constructed a bed of dry leaves. 
Having nothing better at hand, I picked up a vertebra of a horse, 
and fastening the little animal in the spinal canal, I brought him 
safely home. Turning him out into a glass vessel five inches 
deep, with perpendiculat sides, I covered it with a book, upon 
Which I laid the vertebra, and supposed my little captive was 
perfectly secure. Ina short time after leaving it, however, he 
* Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana. 
