Occasional Papers of tlie Miiscnui of Zoology 5 



List 01? Species 



Didclphjs vii'giniana virginiana. Virginia Opossum. — This 

 species is rare in the county. One was taken by my father, 

 Jessup S. Wood, in 1845, in Lodi Township. We have later 

 records for Ann Arbor, Dexter, Manchester, SaHne, and Scio 

 Township. The last recorded specimen was taken by some 

 boys in November, 1921, just south of the Oakland County line. 



February 5, 1912, a trapper took a specimen near Ann Arbor 

 on a night when the temperature was about 10° F. below zero. 



Scalopus aquaticus machriniis. Prairie Mole.— The mole 

 was rare or absent from the county when first settled, but it 

 has gradually increased and has spread over most of the cul- 

 tivated lands. It is most common in sandy or gravelly loams, 

 and is absent from the hard clay soils. I remember the first 

 appearance of the species on the old Wood homestead in Lodi 

 Township about 1870. It soon became common. 



Condyhira cristata. Star-nosed Mole. — Although not very 

 rare in this county, it is seldom seen. We have records for 

 Lodi Township, Ann Arbor, Webster Township, Ypsilanti, 

 and Chelsea. It prefers low, marshy land near the water, and 

 much of its food consists of aquatic insects, which it secures 

 by swimming. It is not as well adapted for burrowing as the 

 preceding species, so it lives in softer soil. 



May 8, 191 3, a nest containing six half-grown young was 

 found by Kitt Cobb in marshy ground beside the Huron River 

 at Portage Lake. The nest was in a good-sized cavity near 

 the surface of the ground and was lined with dried grass. This 

 species sometimes comes out on the surface of the ground, 

 where I have found several individuals in early spring, most 

 of them dead. February 10, 1907, near Ann Arbor, A. D. 

 Tinker heard one tunneling in the snow and dug it out. 



