ox THE 11 A BITS OF THE Ci O P 11 E 11 OF ILLINOIS. 



Geomys burearias. 

 BY J. n. PABVIN, ILLINOIS COLLEGE. 



I SKNP to the Institution a youn"; Gopher, a little more tlian half prown, whieli 

 I hope will reach you in safety. If he arrives alive, take a (lour barrel and fill 

 it half full of moist earth, i)otatoes, corn, or beets, at the bottom, for food, and 

 he will dip; down and help himself, if the earth is compact, so that he can make a 

 liole in it without its eavinp^ in upon him. I have never seen them driidi ; but it 

 will be well to set a dish of water where he can come out on the top of the earth 

 and drink it. Keep the barrel covered loosely, but so that he cannot climb out ; 

 and set it on a floor or plank, so that, if he should g;ct out, he need not get easily 

 into the ground. His habits of digging and eating you will see only Ijy careful 

 watching in the barrel. He uses his paws and his pouches to carry both dirt and 

 food. He digs long lioles in the ground, extending sometimes for rods or even 

 miles, about two feet below the surface, and at suitable distances makes side cuts, 

 at an angle of about 45°, running from the longitudinal main track up to the 

 surface. Through these side cuts he carries up the dirt from the trunk below, as 

 long as he finds it convenient to retain it, in his pouches ; then he turns back, 

 and fills this side cut full of cpiite hard earth down to his main trenches, and then 

 makes another and another side cut further on, filling all these up, and stopping 

 every crevice where light or air can enter, so that his abode, when finished, is one 

 long, winding passage, wholly excluded from all light and air, from one to three 

 or four, perhaps more feet under ground — generally about two feet, except in 

 places where it is made deeper, to deposit food in piles, or to procure water. In 

 these subterranean passages he lives at all times, and gathers food, roots, &c., in 

 summer, and stores them in large, deep lioles for winter. He is never seen above 

 ground, except in the rare cases when food becomes scarce in one field, or for 

 some other cause be prefers another ; then, he will sometimes condescend to walk 

 a part of the way above ground, rather than persevere in his migration by digging 

 below, and then, for most part, only in the night. Whether they live in droves 

 or families, or only in pairs, is uncertain ; but if two strange gophers are put 

 together, they at once attack each other, and the victor devours his antagonist. 

 I cannot, therefore, send you a pair at once, as I promised ; and this is the first 

 and only one I have seen this summer, exce})t one killed and mangled in taking, 

 so thoroughly did my boys wage their war of extermination on them last year. I 

 will watch for more in the spring, if wanted. I have not time now for a more 

 particular description, but will answer in future any questions desired. You are 

 aware of its mischievous destruction of hedges and fruit-trees, as also of clover 

 and all root crops. — Smithsonian Transactions. 



ARE THE FLOWERS OF THE AZALEA POISONOUS? 



BY T. M. 



A snoRT time since, I endeavored to rescue the Kalmia from what I believed 

 the unjust reputation of being poisonons. I notice that the English horticultu- 

 rists are now in a flutter about the Rhododendron. They say that honey extracted 

 by bees from its flowers, is poisonous. Dr. Lindley, in combating the noti 

 admits that it is so in the case of the Azalea, but not in the Rhododendron. 



