142 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



all the bats, are entitled to the protection of the farmer. Multitudes of 

 his worst enemies furnish them food, and perfectly harmless as they 

 are, intruding on no one, it is worse than folly to allow one of them to 

 be killed. 



Description. — Corresponding with the Carolina bat, with these excep- 

 tions, the suhulatus has twelve molars in the upper jaw, while the 

 CaroUnensis has but eight ; the last joint of the tail is included in the 

 interfemoral membrane, and the suhulatus is considerably less than the 

 CaroUnensis. 



Order: KAPACIA. SuTj-Order : INSECTIVORA. 

 Family : SoRiciDiE. — (Shrew Family.) 

 Characteristics. — Insectivorous, feeding principally on insects and 

 worms, but eating, occasionally, flesh. They have two incisors in each 

 jaw, no canines; six to ten teeth, called false molars, in the upper and 

 four in the lower jaw, and eight molars in the upper and six in the lower 

 jaw. The snout is elongated, flexible, and very sensitive ; it is used both 

 in digging and searching for food. The eyes are very minute, and the 

 ears are concealed in the fur. The bodies are cylindrical, and covered 

 with a soft, glossy fur ; tail moderate in length, and covered with hair ; 

 feet naked beneath, and furnished with five nails ; teats varying in num- 

 ber, placed on the belly. These animals are nocturnal, somewhat 

 aquatic, and none of our species hibernate. 



Genus: Sorex. — (Linn.) 

 Characteristics. — Head elongated and slender ; incisors, two in each 

 jaw ; those in the upper curved and notched at the base ; those in the 

 lower slanting and elongated; cheek teeth (molars and false molars) 

 eighteen or twenty in the upper, and ten in the lower jaw ; eyes minute, 

 but visible; feet with five toes, furnished with nails. These animals 

 have a series of glands along the flanks, which exhale a musky odor. 



Sorex Forsteri, (Richardson.)— Foesteu's Siikew. 



These little animals are often met with in this State, both in summer and 

 winter. In the latter season they are often found beneath a pile of 

 wood or logs, and their tracks on the snow show their wanderings in 

 search for food, which are not unsuccessful, as the hairs of some caterpillar 



