558 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



thus pile Tip a mound of loose sand, go down through it, leave the 

 top perfectly smoothed over, and, with no supports save the sand 

 itself, to so fill up the passageway above him as he went down that 

 not the slightest mark should be left to indicate his pathway of 

 retreat. 



Even if you dig into and under one of these sand mounds you 

 will find very little to betray the builder's whereabouts. It is 

 seemingly all solid earth, and unless you know exactly when and 

 where and how to dig you will probably give up the search in dis- 

 gust, with your labor and your backache but no " salamander " 

 hole for your pains. Indeed, the cunning of this little rodent in 

 hiding his burrow is quite as conspicuous as his skill in digging it. 

 " Strategy " is his strong point. If by any chance you come upon 

 his burrow it is probably an old abandoned one that is closed up 

 and leads nowhere. The chances are ten to one that his real bur- 

 row is rods if not furlongs away. 



Provided you can find the last mound he has built and not more 

 than four or five hours have elapsed since its completion, by dig- 

 ging diagonally to the right or left, at the distance of a foot or so, 

 you will have a fair chance of encountering his burrow. He is 

 probably near by, resting from the severe labors of the previous 

 night. If you give him time to get his nap out and finish his job, 

 your wiser plan will be to stop hunting and digging a little before 

 you begin. 



Why this little underground dweller should be called " sala- 

 mander " is one of those mysteries of popular nomenclature which 

 is seemingly inexplicable. There is certainly nothing in the habits 

 or appearance of the animal to suggest the fabled fireproof ba- 

 trachian. Like some other lovers of darkness, he has quite a num- 

 ber of aliases by which in various portions of the South and West he 

 is known. " Gopher," "■ pouched rat," " hamster," and " muelos " 

 are some of the titles by which he is locally known. " Salaman- 

 der " appears to be the most generally accepted one. 



This enterprising little rodent belongs to an ancient if not hon- 

 orable family. By naturalists he is generally known as " pocket 

 gopher," and is classed among the Geomyidm. Some fifteen known 

 species have been recognized, with possibly more to hear from, and 

 with a habitat extending quite across the continent. The Florida 

 species is probably Geomys tuza (Ord.), and though not as large 

 as one or two others, is quite the peer of any of his cousins in en- 

 terprise and ability to look out for himself. 



The illustration given is from what is probably the only photo- 

 graph of a living " salamander " ever taken. Mr. Geomys is not 

 a model " sitter." ISTo unwilling candidate for the " rogues' gal- 



