Jackson — Notes on the Mammals of Southwestern Missouri. 73 

 Reithrodontomys intermedius Allen. 



HARVEST MOrSE. 



The geograpliirul rang<' of this harvest mouse has generally lieen given 

 as, " Southern Texas fnnu Corpus Christi southward; Rio (Jran<le Valley 

 to niouth of Tecos, and east to Kerr, Bexar and Bee counties, t-outli into 

 Mexico. Inhahits Lower Sonoran Zone." 



In view of the fact that this mouse had never been I'ccorded from the 

 United State.s outside of Texas, I was somewhat surprised to find that T had 

 four fairly typical specimens from Carthage, Jasper County, ^Missouri. I am 

 imlebted to ]\Ir. W. H. Osgood, of the United t'tates Biological (--urvey, 

 for identifying them. These specimens were all taken during the autumn 

 of 1904 and measured as follows: Adult male, total length, 104.5 mm. ; 

 tail vertebrae, .SI! mm.; hind foot, 21.2 mm. Adult female (average of 

 two), total length, 1G7 mm.; tail vertebrae, 911.2 mm.; hind foot, 20.8 

 mm. Immature female, total length, 1)52 mm. ; tail vertebrae, 76.7 mm. ; 

 hind foot, 21.2. 



I\eit]iro<1o)it(>>ii[/>i i)ite)'medin>< [^ found in gras.sy and weedy orchards, or 



upon the open jirairie, especially where there is a scattering growth of 



scrub trees. A favorite habitat is a grassy patch where an old wheat stack 



has once stoo<l. All the si)ecimens taken were trapped in holes under 



stuni]>s and at no time were nests ol)served in the oi)en in trees or in 



bushes. 



Microtus ochrogaster (Wagner). 



PKAIKIE VOLE. 



The prairie meadow vole is undoul»tedly the most abundant mammal in 

 southwestern Missouri. It is found in every grassy tract of land and is 

 evidently at home both near the streams and on the prairies. Specimens 

 taken, with one exception, do not differ essentially from those taken in 

 "\^'isconsin. A male taken March 4, 1905, is much grayer than typical 

 specimens and approaches Jiaydeni in color ))ut its cranial characteristics 

 are in keeping with ochrogaster. Four males average : Total length, 147.6 

 mm.; tail vertel:)rae, 00.7 nun.; hind foot, 20.2 mm. Three females av- 

 erage: Total length, 145.6 nun. ; tail vertebrae, :>>. 7 mm. ; hind foot, 21.5 



nun. 



Fiber zibethicus (Linnaeus). 



Ml'SKRAT. 



Muskrats are not uncommon along the streams, where they live in holes 

 inthel)anks. Though the mercury sometimes reaches the zero mark, I 

 have never known the muskrats to build nests in the region. 



Lepus texianus melanotis Mearns. 



JACK RAHUIT. 

 Lepna t. rru'lanoti^ is not rare in the prairit' regions of Jasper County. It 

 probably does not extend to the southward, for the region there is more 

 wooded and hilly. A typical specimen of Lepus t. melanotis was taken 

 November 24, 1904, on the eastern border of Jasper County. Jack rab- 

 bits are said by the natives here not to occur east of White Oak Creek. 

 This creek lies one-half mile east of the locality from which this specimen 

 was taken, and is close to Lawrence Comity. The statement is undoubtedly 



