292 FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM ZOOLOGY, VOL. r. 



Spermophilus i3-lineatus texensis. 



Spermophilus i3-lineatus texensis. Merr. Proc. Biol. Soc, 

 Wash., 1898, p. 71. 



Twenty-four specimens. 14 Noble, 8 Alva, i White Horse 

 Springs, i Arnettville, Oklahoma Territory. 



Cynomys ludovicianus. 



Cynomys ludovicianus, Ord, Guth. Geog., 1817, p. 292. 

 Six specimens, White Horse Springs, Oklahoma Territory. 



" Prairie dogs were common, located as usual in large colo- 

 nies or towns. On a large perfectly level expanse of prairie, 

 south of camp and quite near it, was a colony of several hundred 

 Cynomys. At the time of my visit, the latter part of May and 

 first of June, the young were just beginning to dig their own bur- 

 rows which were not over one-half the size of those of the adults. 

 Shooting these animals was very difficult until I was shown 

 how to do it correctly, after which it became an easy matter to 

 secure them. From their habit of sitting over the burrow, hind 

 feet on one side, fore feet on the other, ready to drop down head 

 first at a flash, it is almost impossible to get them, for in their 

 dying struggles they soon get beyond reach in the almost verti- 

 cal holes. However, by circling around until you can get them 

 fairly in the back of the head with your shot, they drop hind 

 feet foremost into the hole, and all their kicking tends to keep 

 them up instead of pushing them down. By this method one 

 may expect to secure specimens. There seems to be a wide 

 variation in the color of Cynomys^ individuals of several different 

 shades being found together in the same colony. They appear 

 to subsist wholly on the roots and stems of the buffalo grass. 

 Some ranchmen have assured me positively that they have seen 

 prairie dogs kill the large prairie rattlesnake, two or three of 

 the rodents attacking it simultaneously and biting it." (T. S.) 



FAM. MURID.E. 



Onychomys leucogaster. 



Onychomys leucogaster, Wied. Reis. N. Am., 1841, p. 99. 

 Eight specimens. 6 Alva, Oklahoma Territory; 2 Paladura 

 Canon, Texas. 



Altitude 3,650 feet. 



" Most o'f the Grasshopper Mice seemed to be either hibernat- 



