Hagen on the American Badger. 29 



Grapliisurus fasciatus De G. Saperda lateralis Fab. 



Saperda vestita Say. Oberea rujicollis Fab. 



Saperda tridentata Oliv. Tetraopes tetraophtlialmus Forst. 



{To be cofttimied.) 



NOTES ON THE AMERICAN BADGER {TAXIBEA 



AMERICANA). 



By Dr. H. A. Hagen. 



The following observations were made during the last 

 summer (1882) in Washington Territory east of the Cas- 

 cade Mountains. 



The Badger, to judge from the almost countless holes 

 in the large plains, must be exceedingly common. We 

 saw only one specimen, at sunrise near the mouth of the 

 Yakima River, drinking at a little ditch and disappearing 

 in a slow and sluggish manner. Dr. Turkley wonders that 

 in his long trip he did not see more than two specimens. 

 Badger-holes disappeared almost entirely in the forests. 



One can scarcely understand how an animal of this large 

 size can live often so far from the water, as, for instance, 

 in the plains between Umatilla and the Yakima River, 

 where there is no water on either side for seventeen miles. 

 Perhaps they find small springs unknown to the traveller, 

 or burrow in the ground for water. For the same reason 

 they may prefer to make their holes in the road, so as to be 

 near the water running along the roads after a rain. This 

 custom makes fast driving or riding exceedingly dangerous 

 on such plains. The numerous badger-holes, so near 

 together that there are often only two or three feet between 

 them, cannot belong to so many individuals, otherwise 

 the number would be legion. But it is equally difficult to 



