208 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



an enormous mushroom. Presently it caught in a branch, and 

 the savage jerk he gave to free it resulted in the ' handle ' coming 

 off. The Squirrel chattered and scolded, then seized the disc, 

 but again had the misfortune to break it, and now exploded in 

 wrathful splutterings. Eventually, however, he went off with the 

 largest piece and came back for the fragments one by one. 



' The scene was an exact reproduction of one described by 

 Dr. Merriam in 1884." 



Thompson Seton evidently thinks that the tree-fork mode of 

 storage is the only kind of storage for fungi resorted to by the Red 

 Squirrel, but in this he is in error, for, as I have shown by citing 

 the observations of Stuart Griddle and C. N. Bell, the Red Squirrel 

 often stores up fungi in bulk in various holes and cavities. I 

 suspect, but am not sure, that bulk-storage in holes and cavities 

 is more common than storage in the branches of trees. 



M. W. Gorman, who has botanised in Alaska, is reported by 

 W. A. Murrill as having made the following statement 1 : 



" In the region west of the Yukon River the small red or ' pine ' 

 squirrel lives during the winter upon the seeds of Picea alba and 

 mushrooms. The latter are collected in large quantities during 

 the summer and placed in the forks of branches and other secure 

 spots above the ground to dry." Three different kinds of brownish- 

 coloured agarics were noticed by Gorman, who says that the 

 squirrels visit their collections every day. even in the coldest 

 weather. 



The two following statements sent to me in writing by 

 Mr. Ernest Hiebert and Mrs. Doern, both of whom are known to 

 me as careful observers, supplement one another and prove in the 

 clearest manner that, in Manitoba, the Red Squirrel not only 

 stores fungi in particular trees in the autumn, but also feeds upon 

 the fungi so stored during the winter. 



Mr. Ernest Hiebert thus recounts his observations : 



"In the middle of August, 1917, at Sandy Hook, near Gimli, 

 Manitoba, I noticed what appeared to be a mushroom stuck 

 between the lower branches of a spruce tree. Upon closer examina- 

 tion I discovered several more fungi in the same tree to the number 

 1 W. A. Murrill, Animal Mycophagists, Torreya, vol. ii, 1902, pp. 25-26. 



