308 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



spots near the base of the hill, which was contraiy to Mr. Quick's 

 previous experience, he having usually observed them in dr}^ situations. 

 The}" were found in their galleries under logs and limestone slabs and 

 were not very difficult to capture by hand when surprised by suddenly 

 raising the roofs of their dwellings. 



The interest that attaches to Mr. Quick's discovery of the species 

 may be inferred from the fact that Dr. Coues was able to obtain but 

 eighteen specimens for stud}^ (from the Smithsonian collection), in the 

 preparation of his elaborate Monograph of the Family*; while in Euro- 

 pean collections the species was almost or quite unknown. Through Mr. 

 Quick's liberality, specimens have since been placed in the Museums of 

 the Zoological Society of London, of the Roj^al Society of Berlin, and 

 of the Cincinnati Societ}^ of Natural History. 



41. Fiber zibethicus, Cuvier. — Ifuskrat; Musquash.— A very com- 

 mon species along all our streams, in spite of the 3'early trapping of 

 large numbers for their skins, the iparket price of which ranges from 

 five to twenty cents a piece according to demand and quality. Its 

 food consists largely of our various species of fresh-water mussels of 

 the Genus Unio, numerous shells of which may be seen in the neigh- 

 borhood of its burrows. 



The Muskrat is ranked as an undesirable species by reason of its 

 fondness for the young stalks of green corn, large quantities of which 

 it destroys, and also as contributing to the caving of river and canal 

 banks and levees, in which it excavates its dwellings. In still and 

 shallow water, where banks are not convenient, dome-shaped grass 

 houses, rising about two feet above the surface, take the place of burrows : 

 these houses, however, are chiefly seen in flat and marshy districts, 

 being comparatively rare in this vicinity owing to the existence of 

 favorable conditions for burrowing in the banks of our numerous 

 streams. 



Family XIII. — Hystricid^ : Porcupines. 



42. Erethizon dorsatus, F. Cuvier. — White-haired Porcupine. — 

 The former occurrence of this species here in considerable numbers is 

 attested by its numerous remains found in the ancient cemeter}^ several 

 times alluded to in the present paper. Mr. E. R. Quick notes a speci- 

 men observed by his father, Dr. J. H. Quick, of Brookville, Ind., some 

 thirty or forty years ago and also informs me of more recent evidence 



* Monographs of North American Rodentia, by Coues and Allen. 



