THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 69 



making the product in color and flavor being quite similar to 

 the jelly made from cranberries. It is also much used for 

 jam. We in the Northern States will doubtless find the famil- 

 iar cranberry quite good enough but in warmer regions the 

 demand for roselle may continue to increase. The plant re- 

 quires a long season for ripening and is very sensitive to frost. 

 The name roselle is supposed to come through the French 

 oseille which is the equivalent to the English "sorrel." 



Food of the Field Mouse. — Man is not the only animal 

 who Lakes thought for the morrow in the matter of food. All 

 tlie hibernating animals that do not go into a complete and 

 uninterrupted sleep, usually lay up sufficient food to serve 

 them in their waking intervals. We are familiar with this 

 habit in the chipmunk, but his activity is quite over-shadowed 

 by that of his lesser relatives, the moles and field mice. The 

 most provident of this tribe is doubtless the economic vole 

 (lificrofits oeconomiis) who commonly lays by twenty or thirty 

 pounds of fresh roots. The need for this great hoard is ap- 

 parent for ihis species lives in Eastern Siberia. It is said that 

 the Kamchatkans regularly rob these store-houses and look 

 upon the vole with great favor, in consequence. A relative 

 in Northern America, the tundra vole (M. operarius) also 

 stores variovis bulbous roots, often placing a peck in a single 

 cavity just below the surface of some mossy slope. This spe- 

 cies is systematically robbed by the Eskimo women and child- 

 ren who search out the stores by means of sharpened sticks. 

 Coming nearer home the common meadow-mouse {M. Penn- 

 sylvanicns) looks after the harvest and stores various foods. 

 He seems to have a fondness for the roots of wild morning 

 glory {Convovulviis sepiiim). A recent government bulletin 

 shows a photograph of a pile of these roots weighing 18 

 ounces stored by a single pair of mice. 



