148 



INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. 



The' family Mnridce includes all the rats, muskrats and mice, 

 exclusive of the so-called jumping mice. Here occur the Field 

 Mice, which are so injurious to the would-be fruit raiser and nursery- 

 man, by gnawing the bark from the trunks of young fruit trees in 

 the winter time when the snow conceals their depredations. 



Fig. 142. — Field Mice (Arvicola). From Brehm. 



The family Lcporidcv includes the hares and so-called rabbits, 

 differing from each other so little structurally that they all, 

 whether "rabbits" or hares, belong to the single genus Lepus. In 

 a general way it may be said that the rabbit burrows and the hare 

 does not; that the young of rabbits are born naked and blind, 

 while the young of the hare is born with fur and with eyes open. 

 The meat of the rabbit is lighter colored than that of the hare. 

 In Minnesota we have the Prairie Hare, or white-tailed hare, Lepus 

 campcstris, which is commonly called "Jack rabbit," found mostly 

 in open prairie country, but rapidly becoming unpleasantly com- 

 mon in farming districts, even though more or less timbered. The 

 Jack rabbit, while slate colored in summer, in winter, as is well 

 known, changes to an almost pure white, the ears only retaining 

 their black tips. This is a fine protection for Jack when there is 

 snow on the ground, but in a snowless winter, their white color 

 against the dull brown of the earth or grass works their ruin. In- 

 jury to windbreaks and to gardens from this species is becoming 

 more common every year. 



