Sio thb bbe-kbepbr's guidb; 



especially those with pollen or old combs that have been long 

 used for breeding, irritate, perhaps destroy, the bees, and 

 create a very offensive stench. They often greatly injure 

 comb which is outside the hive, destroy smokers, by eating the • 

 leather off the bellows, and, if they get at the seeds of honey- 

 plants, they never retreat till they make complete the work of 

 destruction. 



In the house and cellar, unless they are made as they 

 should always be — mouse-proof — these plagues should be, by 

 use of cat or trap, completely exterminated. If we winter bees 

 on the summer stands, the hive-entrance should be so con- 

 tracted that mice can not enter the hive. In case of packing, 

 as I have recommended, I should prefer a more ample opening, 

 which may be safely secured by taking a piece of wire-cloth or 

 perforated tin or zinc, and, tacking it over the entrance, letting 

 it come within one-fourth of an inch of the bottom-board. This 

 will give more air, and still preclude the entrance of these 

 miserable vermin. 



SHREWS. 



These are mole-like animals (Fig. 295), and look not unlike 

 a mouse. They have a long, pointed nose like the moles, to 

 which they are closely related. They are insectivorous, and 



Fig. 29S. 



ii?irew, — Original. 



have needle-shaped teeth, quite unlike those of the Rodentia, 

 which includes the true mice. I have received from Illinois 

 and Missouri species of the short-tailed shrews — Blarina — 

 which enter the hives in winter and eat the bees, only refusing 

 the head and wings. They injure the combs but little. As 

 they will pass through a space three-eighths of an inch wide, 

 it is not easy to keep them out of hives where the bees are 

 wintering on their summer stands. I have received a short- 



