444 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



and the presence of a pit in place of a ridge in the horizontal alveolar 

 surface of the upper jaw, at the symphysis. 



Fossil species. — In 1878, Professor Cope placed two fossil tortoises 

 from Kansas in the genus Xerobates, under the names X. orthopygius 

 and X. cyclopygius. The skull of the latter species, however, was not 

 found, and, the author states, " it is not certain that it belongs to the 

 genus Xerobates^* X. ortJiopygius, if I understand the description cor- 

 rectly, is an aberrant form as far as regards its shell, and may belong 

 to a subgenus. As I have no fragments of these animals at command 

 I cannot speak with confidence regarding either of them. 



II. HABITS AND CAPTUEE. 



Habits of the gopher. — Eegarding the habits of the gopher con- 

 siderable has been written by Holbrook, Bartram, Louis Agassiz, Say, 

 and other observers and writers of less note. These all agree that it is 

 an animal of docile nature, preferring situations of the utmost dryness 

 and reveling in an abundance of sunshine and warmth. It has an innate 

 repugnance to rain and all moisture, and at the approach of winter re- 

 treats to the depths of its burrow and becomes dormant. Its native 

 home is in the sandy pine barrens of the South; far from them it is 

 never found. 



The habit of digging pits or dens in the earth seems to be peculiar 

 to this genus of tortoises ; I have been unable to find proof of any simi- 

 lar proclivity existing among tortoises of allied genera inhabiting other 

 countries. "The domicile of the Gopher," observes Dr. Savage, "con- 

 sists of an excavation of a size at the mouth just sufficient to admit the 

 animal, and runs in an oblique direction to the depth of about four feet. 

 From the entrance it enlarges and expands to a considerable extent, 

 resembling in its interior outline a vessel of globular shape. Being 

 concealed, it is sometimes a dangerous cavity to horsemen at full speed. 

 It is inhabited by but one pair."t 



The remarks of Eev. 0. F. Knight, on the habits of this species, made 

 before the Boston Society of Natural History, June 15, 1870, disagree 

 somewhat with this account. He states tliat the gallery leading to the 

 burrow is often sixteen feet long, sinking to a depth of twelve feet, and 

 that the latter consists of several chambers. At the mouth of the 

 burrow there is always a mound or hillock of considerable size, formed 

 by the earth which the animal casts behind him in excavating. 



Forbes states that gophers are sometimes forced to share their quar- 

 ters with a brood of rattlesnakes, these welcome lodgers intruding 

 themselves here as they do into the homes of the prairie dog. Eev. 

 Mr. Knight, in the communication just referred to, affirms that, "on one 



*Cope, BulhU. S. G. & G. Survey, iv, 1878, pp. 393-395. 



tDr. Th. Savage in Louis Agassiz's Cont. Nat. Hist. U. S., i, 1857, p. 447. 



