ZAl'US lirnSnMl'S. 297 



gy. Although we made some efforts many years ago, to place this 

 matter beyond a doubt by personal observation, we regret that our 

 residence, being in a region where this species does not exist, no 

 favorable opportunity has since been afforded us. Naturalists 

 residing in the Northern and Middle States could easily solve the 

 whole matter, by preserving the animal in confinement through the 

 winter." * 



If, in Auclubon's time, there were grounds for questioning that 

 this species hibernates, there are none at present. Robert Kenni- 

 cott, in his valuable contribution to economic agriculture, states : 

 " Dr. Hoy informs me that, when he was a boy in digging out a 

 rabbit in winter, he found a pair of this species in a state of pro- 

 found torpor, exhibiting all the phenomena of perfect hibernation. 

 They were in a large nest of leaves situated two or three feet be- 

 low the surface." f 



In the American Naturalist for June, 1872 (Vol. VI, No. 6, pp. 

 330332), the late Professor Sanborn Tenney published an article 

 entitled " Hibernation of the Jumping Mouse." Without referring 

 to a single published record or opinion, he narrates a personal 

 experience so full of interest that I take pleasure in presenting it 

 to my readers. Professor Tenney says : 



"On the i8th of January of the present year (1872), I went 

 with Dr. A. Patton of Vincennes, Indiana, to visit a mound situ- 

 ated about a mile or a mile and a half in an easterly direction from 

 Vincennes. While digging in the mound in search of relics that 

 might throw light upon its origin and history, we came to a nest 

 about two feet below the surface of the ground, carefully made of 

 bits of grass, and in this nest was a Jumping Mouse (Jadi/us 

 Hudsonius Baird) apparently dead. It was coiled up as tightly as 

 it could be, the nose being placed upon the bell)', and the long tail 

 coiled around the ball-like form which the animal had assumed. I 



* Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. II, 1851, p. 355. 

 f Patent Office Report for 1856, 1857, p. 97. 



