434 Shrews and Mice. 
irritate, perhaps destroy, the bees, and create a very offen- 
sive stench. They often greatly injure comb which is out- 
side the hive, destroy smokers, by eating leather off the 
bellows, and if they get at the seeds of honey plants, they 
never retreat till they make complete the work of destruc- 
tion. 
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 on the summer stands, the entrance should be so 
contracted that mice cannot 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. 222), and look not 
Fic. 222. 
unlike a mouse with a long pointed nose like the moles, 
to which they are closely related. They are insectivorous 
and 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-tailed shrew, Blarina brevi- 
cauda, Gray, which was taken in the hives by Mr. Little, 
of Illinois. . 
