CAROLINA SHREW. 
177 
outer one ; the third and fourtn nearly equal. The nails are sharp, rather 
lonsr, a little arched, hut not hooked. The hind feet are more slender than 
the fore ones ; naked beneath, a.nd covered above, as are also the fore feet, 
by a thin coat of short adpressed hairs. 
COLOUR. 
The fur presents the beautiful velvety appearance common to most 
species of this genus. The colour of the whole body is nearly uniform, 
considerably lustrous on the upper surface, and in most lights dark iron 
gray, rather darker about the head ; on the under surface the fur is of nearly 
the same general appearance, but is a shade lighter. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Length of body 
“ of tail . . . • 
“ of head .... 
“ of palm to the end of nails 
“ of hind feet 
INCHES. 
3 
_ 5 _ 
1 6 
HABITS. 
It is difficult to know much of the habits of the little quadrupeds com- 
posing this genus. Living beneath the surface of the earth, feeding princi- 
pally on worms and the larvm of insects, shunning the light, and restricted 
to a little world of their own, best suited to their habits and enjoyments, 
they almost present a barrier to the prying curiosity of man. They are 
occasionally turned up by the plough on the plantations of the south, when 
they utter a faint, squeaking cry, like young mice, and make awkward and 
scrambling attempts to escape, trying to conceal themselves in any tuft of 
grass, or under the first clod of earth that may present itself On two 
occasions, their small but compact nests were brought to us. They were 
composed of fibres of roots and withered blades of various kinds of grasses. 
They had been ploughed up from about a foot beneath the surface of the 
en.rth, and contained in one ne.st five, and in the other six young. In 
digging ditches, and ploughing in moderately high grounds, small holes 
are frequently seen running in all directions, in a line nearly parallel with 
the surface, and extending to a great distance, evidently made by this spe- 
cies, We observed on the sides of one of these galleries, a small cavity 
containing a hoard of coleopterous insects, principally composed of a rare 
species {Scarahmus tityus), fully the size of the animal itself; some of them 
were nearly consumed, and the rest mutilated, although still living, 
VOL. II. — 23. 
