470 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.84 



Family MURIDAE 



RATTUS RATTUS RATTUS (Linnaeus) 



Black Rat 



Though the black rat was probably the first introduced rat to 

 reach West Virginia, in most localities where it formerly occurred it 

 has been driven away by the Norway rat. Writing from the vicinity 

 of Wellsburg, Brooke County, W. Va., Doddridge (1824, p. 71) 

 makes the following statement: "Rats which were not known here 

 for several years after the settlement of the county, took possession 

 of it, in its whole extent, in one winter season." Specimens were 

 collected by Thaddeus Surber at White Sulphur Springs in 1897. 

 Greenbrier County: White Sulphur Springs, 1. 



RATTUS NORVEGICUS (Erxleben) 



Norway or House Rat 



This introduced rodent is the common destructive rat of warehouses 

 and alleys and is likewise a nuisance around barns and grain cribs 

 on farms. 



MUS MUSCULUS MUSCULUS (Linnaeus) 



House Mouse 



The familiar house mouse apparently came to West Virginia in 

 boxes containing supplies for the early settlers. 



Mason County: Mercers Bottom, 1. 

 Pendleton County: Franklin, 1. 



Family ZAPODIDAE 



NAPAEOZAPUS INSIGMS INSIGNIS (Miller) 



Woodland Jumping Mouse 



The woodland jumping mouse has been recorded (F. E. Brooks, 

 1911, p. 19) from French Creek, Upshur County. There are no 

 specimens collected in West Virginia in the National Museum. 



NAPAEOZAPUS INSIGMS ROANENSIS (Preble) 



Roan Mountain Woodland Jumping Mouse 



This jumping mouse is partial to deep woods, especially near 

 running streams. On the south fork of Cranberry River, Cranberry 

 Glades, one was trapped on a stump in a forest of spruce, sugar 

 maple, and yellow birch. Another one was caught on Cheat Moun- 

 tain in a trap set at the entrance to a small burrow in a moss mound 

 growing on the roots of a spruce tree. On Spruce Knob in a dense 

 forest of spruce, sugar maple, and yellow birch, two jumping mice 

 were trapped at entrances to burrows in the moss growing in the inter- 



