MISCELLANY. 



637 



preference to others, and which, living in 

 interior mountainous regions, are less ex- 

 posed than littoral species to be drawn off 

 by extraneous agents. As to the Mauritian 

 Islands, it is very difficult to explain, by the 

 fact of transport, the singular affinities con- 

 necting their flora with that of the oceanic 

 isles. To suppose some lauds to have dis- 

 appeared between Madagascar and Australia 

 is a bold hypothesis which will, perhaps, 

 impose itself one day on science above all, 

 after the results attained by geologists, and 

 recently expressed according to the special 

 studies of Alphonse Milne-Edwards. 



The Prairie Gopber. Among the bur- 

 rowing species belonging to the squirrel fam- 

 ily, the prairie gopher {Spermophilus Jiich- 

 ardsoni) holds prominent rank. Though 

 one of the most abundant animals in our 

 country, infesting hundreds of thousands of 

 square miles of territory, almost to the ex- 

 clusion of other mammahan forms, the prai- 

 rie gopher has but lately received the htmor 

 of an adequate description. This service 

 has been rendered by Dr. Elliott Coues in 

 the pages of the American Naturalist. The 

 habitat of the prairie gopher appears to 

 extend from the Red River of the North to 

 the Rocky Mountains, and from latitude 38 

 to 55. So numerous are they in Dakota 

 and Montana that, according to Dr. Coues, 

 should certain portions of these Territories 

 ever be settled, the little gophers will con- 

 tend with the husbandman for the land 

 more persistently and successfully than the 

 Indians can hope to. The animal seems to 

 be a modification of the chipmunk; in the 

 language of Dr. Coues, " If we take a chip- 

 munk and crop its ears down close, cut oif 

 about a third of its tail, give it a blunter 

 muzzle, and make a little alteration in its 

 fore feet so that it could dig better," we have 

 a pretty good prairie gopher. The holes 

 they dig are small, but many of them, like 

 the burrows of the badgers, foxes, and prai- 

 rie wolves, will admit a horse's hoof. In 

 some regions so numerous are these holes 

 that it is impossible to gallop a hundred 

 yards except at the risk of life or limb. 



It is not easy to determine what particu- 

 lar kind of ground the gophers most affect. 

 " Passing over a sterile, cactus-ridden, al- 

 kali-laden waste," says Dr. Coues, " there 



would be so many that I would say, ' Tliis 

 suits them best ; ' in camp that very night, 

 in some low grassy spot near water, there 

 they would be, pleutiful as ever." If the 

 animals have any preference, it is a choice 

 of the lighter and more easily-worked soils ; 

 and they seem to haunt especially the slight 

 knolls of the prairie a few feet above the 

 general level. One gopher to a hole is the 

 universal rule, nor has the author ever seen 

 any signs of a burrow being occupied by a 

 pair. 



The female brings forth in June, but the 

 young are never seen outside of the burrow 

 till July, when they are about two-thirds 

 grown. The number of young produced 

 at a birth is supposed to be about eight. 



Dr. Coues is of the opinion that the go- 

 pher is torpid during most of the winter. 

 The animal hoards up food, it is true, but 

 not in sufficient quantity to suffice for so 

 active a creature during an entire winter. 

 The author has often watched them, where 

 the grass was taller than usual, gathering 

 their store. They rise straight up on their 

 haunches, seize the grass-top, and bite it 

 off; then settling down with a peculiar jerk, 

 they sit with arched back, and stow away 

 the provender in their pouches, with the aid 

 of their fore-paws. Their cheek-pouches, 

 both together, would hardly hold a heaping 

 teaspoouful. Though properly a vegetarian, 

 the gopher derives no small share of his 

 summer food from carcasses of buffalo. 



Recovery from Liglitning-Stroke. In 



his valuable work on " The Maintenance of 

 Health," Dr. Fothergill has the following on 

 resuscitation after lightning-stroke : " Per- 

 sons struck by lightning are not always dead 

 when they appear to be so. There are few 

 recoveries from this state, because no means 

 are tried to restore the suffijrer. In the 

 tropics there are many instances of persons, 

 struck down by lightning, recovering after a 

 heavy thunder-shower ; and it would appear 

 that cold affusion to the body has a decided 

 action in such cases. The injured cannot 

 be harmed by the free use of cold water, 

 and if only an occasional recovery took 

 place it would be well worth the pains 

 bestowed. The persons so injured should 

 have cold water poured or even dashed 

 freely over them." 



