112 Kansas Academy of Science. 



skunk's body with the diameter of many of the gopher burrows in 

 alfalfa fields, it will be seen at once that it is not a difficult matter 

 for the skunk to make his way through the underground passages. 

 The additional fact that by digging he can enter the burrow at any 

 point and corner the occupant in some lateral or pocket tunnel 

 renders the little striped skunk especially valuable as a gopher- 

 catcher. 



In summary, it may be said that we cannot, except in a few 

 favored localities, depend upon natural forces to keep in check the 

 increase of the pocket gopher. On one hand, by increasing the 

 acreage of alfalfa we are producing the very conditions that are 

 favorable to the most rapid multiplication of the species; and, on 

 the other hand, by thoughtlessly or wantonly destroying harmless 

 owls, hawks, bull snakes, and certain mammals, we still further in- 

 terfere with nature's efforts to preserve the balance of power in 

 the animal world. The worst that can be said of the enemies of 

 the pocket gopher is that the Great Horned owl, the weasel and the 

 skunk sometimes destroy domestic fowls. But a little wise pre- 

 caution in shutting up coops at night would prevent these inroads 

 on the poultry industry. 



BREEDING HABITS. 



But little information along this line was obtainable in the litera- 

 ture accessible to the writer, and some of the statements therein 

 made are, in the light of our own investigations, found to be more 

 or less erroneous. The pocket gopher lives such a secluded life in 

 its underground burrows that direct observations of its breeding 

 habits require considerable painstaking effort. I have never been 

 able to find a litter of the young myself, although I have explored 

 a great many burrows in studying the animal. Occasionally, 

 though, I have run across a nest of soft, dry grass that had prob- 

 ably been constructed for the purpose of rearing the young. 



As might be expected of animals living in such comparative se- 

 curity, the pocket gopher is not a very prolific breeder. It certainly 

 rears but one litter a year in this locality, for I have examined 

 scores of specimens in all months of the year and have found the 

 embryos only in late winter and early spring. The number of 

 young in a litter varies from three to six, and averages a little more 

 than four. Very rarely only two embryos are found in the uteri. 



Quite early in the spring, before the snows are fairly gone, the 

 male gophers are said to roam about in search of mates. As I have 

 never encountered one on such amorous errands intent, I have not 

 been able to verify the statement. It is entirely probable, however. 



