103 



* * * * The short-tailed shrew is so well protected from 

 its enemies that no animals appear to depend upon it for food. ' It is 

 abundant and widely distributed. In security it devours such quan- 

 tities of voles and insects that its economic importance is considerable; 

 and since, unlike the other common shrew, Sorex personatus, it is 

 almost exclusively carnivorous, there is little to detract from its 

 economic value." (The American Naturalist, Vol. XLI, No. 488, pp. 

 495-522, Aug., 1907. Prom observations made in Michigan.) 



E. A. Samuels. "The animals of this family (Shrews) are small, 

 some of them the most diminutive of mammals. Their habits are 

 generally nocturnal, and none of one species hibernate, I believe, as 

 individuals are often seen in the winter busily engaged in searching 

 for insects in their various forms, in and beneath piles of stones and 

 rubbish. The shrews inhabit the woods, fields, and gardens, and being 

 possessed of voracious appetites, they are continually active in de- 

 stroying numerous noxious insects, of which their food almost entirely 

 consists; consequently they are all eminently beneficial to agriculture, 

 and are certainly worthy the protection of the farmer." (Report of 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, p. 267, 1864.) 



Ernest Ingersoll. "All the shrews are ceaselessly active, wander- 

 ing about underneath leaves, old grass, and logs, and boring their way 

 into loose loam or the punky wood of decaying stumps, in search of 

 earthworms, grubs, beetles, slugs, and similar prey, including young 

 mice and the fledglings of ground-nesting birds, and varying this fare 

 by bites from soft-shelled beechnuts, tuberous roots, etc. They are 

 astonishingly quick of hearing; are bold, pugnacious, and fierce, often 

 killing and eating other shrews; difficult to keep alive in captivity, 

 utterly untamable, and easily frightened to death." (Life of Animals, 

 p. 70, 1907.) 



SHREWS AND "CHESTNUT WORMS." 



My attention was first attracted to the abundance and 

 economic value of the shrews in the spring of 1906. At that 

 time I was making a study of insects that feed on nuts of various 

 kinds and, in working out the life-histories of the several species 

 under consideration, I found it desirable to add to my supply of 

 " chestnut- worms/ ' " hickorynut-worms " and " acorn- worms. " 

 During the previous fall I had had no trouble in finding large 

 numbers of these worms in the ground beneath nut-bearing trees 



