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BULLETIN NO. VII. 



American naturalists are greatly indebted to Dr. Coues for 

 the very complete and lucid discussion of the meadow mice of 

 America, particularly as respects this common and widely dis- 

 tributed species. What otherwise would have been a mere 

 suspicion, or, at best, a moral certainty, is by him placed be- 

 yond dispute namely, that the majority of the innumerable 

 species related to A. riparius are synonyms pure and simple. 

 The difference of opinion which may still exist as to the specific 

 validity of those forms which show tangible differences, will be 

 comprehensible, and will be founded upon different interpreta- 

 tions of facts, and not upon the misunderstanding of facts. 



Arvicola riparius, the common meadow mouse, is perhaps 

 the most abundant, as it is the most widely distributed of our 

 native mice. It makes its home in the weedy corners of fields, 

 along hedge rows, in the close grass of the meadow anywhere 

 that affords shelter and access to its food. In the autumn 

 it leaves its summer habitation and makes a new domicile 

 iji the corn shocks or grain stacks, or beneath the granaries 

 adjoining, showing its appreciation of the thrifty care of the 

 farmer by helping him dispose of his harvest. The farmer boy 

 enlivens the monotonous task of corn husking by a merry 

 scramble after the furry pilferers, as each shock is removed, 

 assisted, it may be, by an eager terrier, which tears the large, 

 spherical nests with excited haste. 



Allowing for great local or accidental variations, the follow- 

 ing description will make the animal recognizable : 



Body four to five inches long, stout ; members small, partic- 

 ularly the forefeet and tail ; head blunt. The forehead is 

 curved, the muzzle very blunt and furry, the eyes small, not 

 prominent, and placed about half way between the nose and 

 ears. The ears are covered with hairs on both sides, and do 

 not overtop the fur, having a valve- like antitragus closing the 

 opening. The forefeet are small and are employed as prehen- 

 sile organs extensively, the animal naturally supporting itself, 

 when at rest, upon the hind feet almost exclusively. 



The proportions, as well as the normal size, may be gathered 

 from the following measurements, which will be found to be 

 very constant in adult specimens from the southern part of 

 Minnesota: 



