68 The Ohio Naturalist. [A^ol. X, No. 4, 



can get out of the way easily in case of danger. If such a 

 condition occurs in a waste field the mice live on roots largely 

 and no noticeable damage results. In the burrows here and 

 there quantities of dried grass is carried together and nests 

 constructed where the adults spend much of their time and 

 where the young are born. A brood of young usually consists 

 of from four to six but they only remain under the direct care 

 of the mother for a short time before they are able to go out and 

 shift for themselves. Several broods are often produced in a 

 season therefore and the species is enabled to multiply rapidly 

 and thus it is a fact that a piece of ground with the desired 

 conditions is very soon the home of large numbers of the rodents 

 which in order to occupy the time and procure sufficient food 

 are liable to get into all sorts of mischief. These conditions often 

 exist in an orchard where the sod mulch system is practiced and 

 if something is not done to protect the trees immense damage 

 may result from the mice gnawing the bark from the trees near 

 the ground, or sometimes just beneath the surface. These 

 circumstances are illustrated in a recent bulletin by the Ohio 

 Agricultural Experiment Station with a full treatment of the 

 methods of protecting young trees. 



Grain that is cut and placed in shocks in the field often 

 receives more or less injury from this same mouse which is 

 accused also of following in the burrows of moles and eating 

 planted corn and other grains and seeds. In the case of wheat, 

 and other grain that is tied with twine the mice often get into 

 the shocks and cut the bands, especially if this grain from am^ 

 cause has to be left standing in the field longer than is usual. 



Microtus pinetorum scalopsoides Audubon and Bachman. 

 Northern Pine Mouse. An attractive species with a much shorter 

 tail than the meadow mouse. The typical species is southern, 

 the first recorded specimens having been taken in the pine 

 forests of Georgia. Two varieties are recognized, scalopsoides 

 and auricularis, both of which have a distribution that includes 

 part of Ohio at least. I have seen a number of Ohio specimens 

 from Hamilton and Madison counties, some of those from the 

 first named county appear to be the specimens that were taken 

 for the prairie meadow mouse by Brayton and are the basis of 

 the recorded occurrence of that species in the state. I saw the 

 specimens in the Cincinnati Society of Natural History museum. 

 I cannot conclude that any of these specimens studied are the 

 variety auricularis although Vernon Bailey records a specimen 

 of this mouse from Brookville, Indiana, a few miles from Cin- 

 cinnati. Further collecting may add auricularis to the list of 

 Ohio mammals. The northern pine mouse appears quite 

 different from the meadow mouse in the field but may inhabit 

 similar situations. The full}^ adult specimens are browner and 



