MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 219 



"On the 18th of January of the present year (1872), I went 

 with Dr. A. Patton, of Vincennes, Indiana, to visit a mound 

 situated about a mile or a mile and a-half in an easterly direction 

 from Vincennes. While digging in the mound in search of 

 relics that might throw light upon its origin and history, we 

 came to a nest about two feet below the surface of the ground, 

 carefully made of bits of grass, and in this nest was a jumping 

 mouse (Jaculus hudsonius Bd.; apparently dead. It was coiled 

 up as tightly as it could be, the nose being placed upon the 

 belly, and the long tail coiled around the ball-like form which 

 the animal had assumed. I took the little mouse into my hand. 

 It exhibited no motion or sign of life. Its eyes and mouth were 

 shut tight, and its little fore feet were shut and placed close 

 together. Everything indicated that the mouse was perfectly 

 dead, excepting the fact that it was not as rigid as perhaps a 

 dead mouse would be in the winter. I tied the mouse and nest 

 in my handkerchief and carried them to Vincennes. Arriving 

 at Dr. Patton's office I untied my treasures and took out the 

 mouse and held it for some time in my hand. It still showed 

 no signs of life; but, at length I thought I saw a very slight 

 movement in one of the hind legs. Presently there was a very 

 slight movement of the head, yet so feeble that one could 

 hardly be sure it was real. Then there came to be some evi- 

 dence of breathing, and a slight pressure of my fingers upon 

 the tail near the body was followed by an immediate but feeble 

 movement of one of the hind legs At length there was unmis- 

 takable evidence that the animal was breathing, but the breath- 

 ing was a labored action, and seemingly performed with great 

 difficulty. As the mouse became warmer the signs of life be- 

 came more and more marked; and in the course of the same 

 afternoon on which I brought it into the warm room it became 

 perfectly active, and was as ready to jump about as any other 

 member of its species. I put this mouse in a little tin box with 

 holes in the cover, and took him with me in my journey ings, 

 taking care to put in the box a portion of an ear of corn and 

 pieces of paper. It ate the corn by gnawing from the outside 

 of the kernel, and it gnawed the paper into bits with which it 

 made a nest. * * * On the evening of February 6th I 

 reached my home in Williamstown, and on my arrival the 

 mouse was in good condition; but the next morning it was again 

 apparently dead. In the course of the day, however, being 

 placed where it was warm, it gradually came back to activity 

 as before." 



