36 RODENTS OF IOWA 



commercial variety is as good as and cheaper than the pure. To 

 use, roll into a ball about the size of a hen's egg a wad of cotton 

 or waste and saturate thoroughly with the liquid. Push this sat- 

 urated waste as far down the burrow as possible and ciuickly 

 •close the opening with earth to prevent any possible escape of 

 the fumes. The best time for fumigating is just following a rain 

 when the soil is saturated with water and the fumes of the lirjuid 

 are less likely to escape. With this method the animal is killed 

 within its own burrow and thus creates no offensive odor upon 

 decaying, while too, there is no risk of its poisoning any other 

 animal even though it be dug up. 



Caution. — ^Carbon bisulphid is an inflammable and highly 

 explosive liquid and should not be handled near a fire or near 

 anyone who is smoking. It also evaporates vei*y rapidly and 

 should be kept tightly corked. 



FRANKLIN'S SPERMOPHILE. GRAY GROUND SQUIRREL. 

 GRAY GOPHER. GRAY PRAIRIE SQUIRREL. 



Citetlus franklini (Sabine). 



Arctomys franMinii Sabine, Trans. Linn. Soc. XIII, 587, 1822. 



Description. — Color above, except on head and tail, yellowish 

 or grayish brown, the hairs marked with blackish ; top and sides 

 of head and neck blackish lightly speckled with white; a buffy 

 ring around the eye ; color below buffy white ; tail grayish with 

 three blackish lines, the outermost broad and fringed with white. 



In the young the brownish or tawny tinge is not so evident 

 and the back has irregular blackish bars. 



Measurements. — Total length, 14.75 inches; tail vertebrae, 4.75 

 inches; hind foot, 1.85 inches. 



This form resembles somewhat a small gray squirrel, but may 

 at once be known by the shorter and less bushy tail, the more 

 evident tawny tinge of the upper parts, and the very short ears. 



While this animal possesses a very great number of popular 

 names, none are employed consistently throughout its range ex- 

 cept perhaps the least known of these, Franklin's spermophile — 

 the only one which is properly applicable to this form and the one 

 which we shall employ in this discussion. 



Habits, Distribution, Etc. — Franklin's spermophile is an inhab- 

 itant of open prairies and is not found in timbered regions, al- 



