270 AGRICULTURAL REPORT 



In the sub-family Dlpodina we have l»ut one genus, (Jacnlus,) in this country. 

 These animals are readily distinguished from the field mice by their very long 

 posterior limbs and tail, and their progression by long leaps. This genus is not 

 a large one, and consists in this country of but one or two species. They are 

 not abundant in any districts, and can hardly, from their retiring habits, and 

 the nature of their food, which consists largely of the seeds of wild plants, be 

 called greatly injurious. Their number will probably be kept reduced by the 

 carnivora and reptiles, 



The sub-family Murince is largely and widely distributed. It is characterized 

 by a robust body, moderately short limbs, strong and fully developed clavicle, 

 and the tibia and fibula are united below. The anterior feet are four-toed, Avith 

 a wart-like tubercle supplying the place of a thumb; the posterior feet are five 

 toed; the tail is generally long, and covered more or less thickly with scales, 

 which are arrayed in whorls, and between which spring scanty hairs which 

 partially conceal them. In this sub-family are included our common rat, Mus 

 dccumanus, (Pallas;) black rat, J/, ra^/w*, (Linn.;) common mouse, M. Mus- 

 culus, (Linn.;) the field mice, (Rithrodon;) the white-footed mice, ( Ilesperomys;) 

 the bush rats, ( Neotonia; J and the cotton rats, ( Sigmodon.) These animals 

 are all injurious generally in the highest degree. In the fields and gardens, 

 in the grain houses and hay ricks, their depredations are innumerable, and the 

 farmer has to pay for their support a large share of his produce. 



These species are all prolific and numerous, and their rapidly increasing 

 numbers are already a serious evil. They should be destroyed at every op- 

 portunity. The farmer will find that be will have able and willing assistance 

 in their destruction in one or two small terriers if he keeps them about his 

 premises. They are as natural enemies to the rat tribe as the cats are, and as 

 constantly and successfully on the alert for them. In conclusion we can say 

 that, with the exception of the Arvicolince, to be treated of next, they are the 

 most injurious of all mammals. 



The animals included in the sub-family Arvicolince. are certainly the most in- 

 jurious of all farm pests, excepting the insects. They are divided into three 

 genera, Arvicola, (field mice;) Fiber, (muskrats;) and Myodes, (Lemmings.) 

 Of these, the last mentioned are not -of much consequence agriculturally.* It is 

 the animals in the genus Arvicola that constitute one of the greatest of farm 

 nuisances. They are characterized, and may be readily distinguished, by a 

 rat-like, but rather stout, form ; short ears, nearly concealed in the fur ; large 

 head and short tail. They are known in different sections by the names : field 

 mice, short-tailed field mice, bull-head mice, and bear mice. These animals are 

 numerous, in some districts extremely so, and prolific to an alarming degree, 

 and exceedingly voracious. In summer they live in the cultivated fields and 

 meadows. In this season they eat the different grains by cutting down the 

 stalks to get at the ears. They also cat the roots and seeds of the different 

 grasses and clover, and devour carrots, turnips, and other vegetables. In the 

 barns and hay ricks they spoil the hay by cutting it into fragments and filling 

 it with their peculiar odor, thus rendering it iinacceptable to the cattle. 



Robert Kennicott, who has obtained a rich fund of knowledge of the habits 

 of these animals, wrote a most invaluable report on them, Avhich was published 

 in the Patent Office Report for 1856. I cannot refrain from giving a few ex- 

 tracts from it here, which the importance of the subject justifies. He says: 



" Few if any escape their depredations, though the full amount of damage done by them 

 is but little known, and yet they are usually thought unworthy of consideration. ISnch of 



* Muskrats are very miscliievous among crops which lie near their haunts, but they ought 

 to be utterly exterminated by every means in the farmer's power, on account of the immense 

 and unceasii]g injury in cutting through dums and embankments, breaking the banks of 

 ditches, and burrowing in, through, and acrosb drains, opened and covered. No more mercy 

 Bhould be shown them than to the pestilent fiedd-mouse. 



