NATION 



Striped Ground-squirrel 413 



forth her young." During cold days now they do not show 

 themselves at all. About the middle of September they bid 

 good-by to the sunlight, plug up the doorway, and curl up for 

 their seven months' sleep below the line of the frost. 



"Whether they remain dormant all of the six or seven 

 months which are spent underground is difficult to determine 

 [says Bailey-*], but it seems probable that they do not. Large 

 stores of grain and nuts are carried into the holes in autumn 

 and stored close to their nests. Whether these are eaten dur- 

 ing the winter or saved for use in the spring, when grain and 

 seeds are scarce, remains to be ascertained." 



The only investigation of the hibernation of this Sper- hiber- 

 mophile, so far as I know, is by the late Dr. P. R. Hoy, of 

 Racine, Wis. 



He states:" "The following are the results of many ob- 

 servations and experiments on the Striped-gopher {Spermo- 

 philus tridecemlineatus) during active life as well as when under 

 the profound stupor of hibernation. During activity the 

 Gopher's pulse is 200, respiration 50, temperature 105. 



"On the 2d of October, having procured a Red- 

 squirrel (Sciurus hudsonicus) and a Gopher, animals of nearly 

 equal size, the one active during the coldest weather, while the 

 other is a characteristic hibernator, I cut out a part of the gluteal 

 muscles of each, and after dividing and bruising, so as thor- 

 oughly to break up every part, I took fifty grains of each and 

 placed in a test tube, into which I put two ounces of cold water. 

 After freely agitating, the mixture was left to digest for eight 

 hours, at the expiration of which time I carefully decanted and 

 renewed the water, agitated and left twelve hours, then filtered 

 and rolled the residuum on blotting paper in order to remove 

 all excess of moisture. When weighed they stood: Gopher, 

 50-15; Squirrel, 50-10. These experiments were repeated with 

 substantially the same results. Gluteal muscles of the Squirrel 

 contained 20 per cent, of albumen, soluble in cold water, while 



=' Rep. Pr. Grd.-Sq, 1893, PP- 34-5- 



'^ Proc. Am. Ass. Adv. Sci., August, 1875, pp. 148-9, quoted in Bailey's Rep., pp. 35-6. 



