MAMMALS. 15 



NEOTOMA FLORIDANA, S a y & r d .Wood Rat. 



&quot; Musfloridana, ORU, Bull. Soc. Philom. 181F.&quot; 

 Ncotoma floridana, AUD. & BACH. N. Am. Quad. I, 1849, 32; pi. iv. 

 BAIRD, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 487. 



S P . CH. Tail with short stiff hairs, not concealing the scaly annuli; about three-fourths the length of the head and body. 

 Ears very large. Feet large. 



Color. Above, mixed lead color, dark brown, and yellowish brown; lighter on the sides. Under parts and feet, white. Tail 

 dusky above, white beneath. Skull elongated and narrow. 



A specimen, supposed to be of this species, was collected by Mr. Mollhausen in the Antelope 

 Hills, on the Arkansas river. 



? NEOTOMA MEXICANA, B a i r d . Bush Rat. 



BAIKD, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 490. 



Many specimens of Neotoma were collected west of the Rocky mountains, where they appear 

 to abound ; all, however, were lost on the Isthmus. About Camp 96 we found them in a country 

 covered by a growth of the rough-barked cedar, (Juniperus pachy derma.) They seem to select 

 a hollow tree with a hole near the root ; then around it they pile vast heaps of dry twigs and 

 fragments of the several species of cactaceae (Opuntia) which grow there. The latter is probably 

 a protection against the depredations of wolves. Numerous lodges of this kind were found 

 throughout the forest, into one of which we dug until we reached the hole at the root of the 

 tree, when, applying a match, we soon compelled the animal to leave it, which it did by finding 

 its way out several feet above, and fell to the ground apparently dead. Its food seemed to 

 consist mainly of the fruit of the cactus. 



Another specimen (115 b. White Cliff creek, N. M.) was much the largest we saw. We 

 found, around a pile of rotten drift wood near the creek, tracks and other evidences of the 

 presence of some animal, and applying a lighted match to the bushes awaited the result ; when 

 nearly the entire pile was consumed, the rat emerged, having four young ones adhering to it. 

 The little ones were very young, and after the mother was killed they were placed on an open 

 spot on the sand, where they crawled awkwardly about for a while, uttering all the time a 

 plaintive whining cry, not unlike that of a very young kitten. They were caught early in 

 February . 



SIGMODON BERLANDIERI? 



BAIRD, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 504. 



Among our lost specimens was one probably of this species, certainly, I think, of this genus, 

 obtained on the Little Colorado river, (No. 105.) We found them very abundant in many 

 places in the valley of this river. They lived in the sand in very tortuous holes, and extending 

 for many yards, though rarely more than fifteen inches below the surface. The entrance to 

 their abode was generally in a pile of earth heaped around the base of a mezquite bush, (Alga- 

 robia,) upon the roots of which it seemed to feed. So far as we noticed, they were entirely 

 nocturnal in their habits. On several occasions we attempted to dig them out with spades, but 

 were always forced, after hours of labor, to relinquish the task without having accomplished 

 our purpose. The specimen procured had, during the night, gotten into an empty bucket, 

 where it was found alive in the morning. The body measured about three and a half inches, 

 and the tail the same ; the hair was coarser and darker than in the neotomas. 



