
          I should, if the person who attends to my business
below on the River, had known how to preserve
them, have sent by this conveyance other specimens
of the yellow rat, & besides, certainly a
pigmy of an animal not described or as far
as I know whose existence has not been known
by any inhabitants of this region _ My man being
instructed to watch for every thing curious had
before mentioned it, but I was fearful of intimating
its existence in my previous letter for
fear it might be a young Sorex. a sight
of one of these little animals even in a putrid
state convinced me it may altogether different
from any animal I had ever seen described?
It is a little larger than a half grown domistic
mouse with the feet ^[added; & legs] of a Sorex & with a long
cuneate head terminating in a moveable [crossed out: [snout?]]
snout, tail about 2 inches long, the shape of
its mouth like an acute isoceles triangle,
the under incisors seemed to make barely
an angle with the jaw, projecting almost
straight forward, eyes very small,- I regret
I did not examine it more carefully, but I
was quite sick & fatigued & the smell of the
animals (attempted to be preserved in a solution
of nitre) was so offensive I could not remain
by them when turned out of the solution.

The animal is exceedingly feeble, putting
it [added: in] the waistcoat pocket killed it. They
seem to be gregarious,- the man tells me
he exposed about 20 at [added: one] time last [added: spring] in tearing
up a rotten stump -I shall sooner or later
secure some of these rarities, having at
hand now spts [spirits?] [?] for their preservation.
Let me hear something about my new asclepias,
I shall be so disappointed if it be not
even to you a new "weed". Very Sincerely yours,

Samuel Boykin
        