MAMMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. Ill 



1799. Meriones americanus Barton, Transactions American Philosophical 

 Society, Phila., vol. 4, p. 115. 



1899. Zapus hudsonius americanus Batchelder, Bulletin New England 

 Zoolog. Club, vol. I, p. 6. 



Type locality. — Philadelphia, Pa. 



Faunal distribution. — Upper austral zone ; Connecticut to eastern North 

 Carolina ; coast plains. Also in southwestern Pa. ; probably west along Ohio 

 Valley lowlands. Western range not mentioned by Preble in N. Amer. Fauna, 

 No. 15. 



Distribution in Pa. and N. J. — This lowland race is found in southeastern 

 and southwestern Pa,, the two sections occupied by it being separated faunally 

 by the Alleghany mountains, in which only the northern type is found. Preble, 

 the monographer of this group, records no specimens from west of the Alle- 

 ghanies. I have examined specimens from the upper austral lowlands of the 

 southwestern corner of Pa. and would class them with americanus. In N. J. 

 this animal is sparsely found in the southern half of the state. A specimen 

 having been secured from Beach Haven, a coastal sand-island beach, indi- 

 cates that they may be found anywhere in this great territory. That they are 

 exceedingly rare in such situations or in other parts of the pine-barren region, 

 my own researches go to confirm the popular verdict. 



Habits, etc. — I extract from Mr. Preble's monograph of the genus Zapus 

 the following facts, which add to the information already given under Zapus 

 hudsonius. The average length of the longest leaps is about 8 feet. They 

 breed from May until September, both above and beneath the ground. They 

 build summer-house nests on the ground in the thick grass, globular with 

 a side entrance and composed of leaves of grass. A pair use this home. 

 Hibernation is not always complete or uninterrupted, Dr. Merriam having 

 seen them abroad in northern New York during the unusually mild winter of 

 1881-82. Mr. G. S. Miller, Jr., narrates how a young jumping mouse, whose 

 long tail had been cut off by the knife of a mowing machine, thereby wholly 

 lost control of its leaping powers. While stimulated by his approach to make 

 astonishingly long and high leaps, it would turn somersaults in the air, often 

 landing in a reversed position from the starting one and thus returning at the 

 next leap toward the object of its fears. That this misfortune would not 

 always prove fatal, I have proof from an old individual, whose stump tail was 

 about two inches long, entering my traps. It was otherwise in good condi- 

 tion, though the end of the tail showed it had been a long while in this plight. 

 Specimens examined (only extralimital records noted). — Pa., Allegheny Co., 

 Wilkinsburg, i : Beaver Co., Beaver, i ; Greene Co., Waynesburg (recorded 

 by Jacobs) ; Washington Co., Washington, 2 ; Westmoreland Co., Laughlin- 

 town (intermediate), i. Numerous specimens from southeastern Pa. N. J., 

 Burlington Co., east of Medford, 2 ; Mt. Holly, i ; Camden Co., extremely 



