220 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



"Mr. Slade says*: 'The long-tailed jumping mouse inhabits 

 high land or low land, forest or pasture, cultivated field or 

 swamp, and appears to be equally at home in either, and num- 

 erous in any situation. It possesses a momentary agility 

 second to no other rodent, and a muscular strength of enor- 

 mous power for so small a creature. When suddenly disturbed 

 it often moves away in a direct line, the first three or four leaps 

 being eight or ten feet in length; but these distances rapidly 

 decline to about four feet, which are continued until it con- 

 siders itself out of danger. This is not always the case for it 

 frequently takes an irregular course and jumps at diverse an- 

 gles for several successive leaps. * * * It feeds upon the 

 buds, leaves and twigs of many kinds of plants, upon seeds, 

 grain, wild berries, chestnuts, acorns, grass, and to some ex- 

 tent, upon the bark of shrubs. * * * As a rule, three lit- 

 ters are produced in a season, each consisting of from two to 

 four young." 



FAMILY GEOMYIDJE.- 



POUCHED OR POCKET-GOPHERS. 



The pouched rats are among the most interesting and pecu- 

 liar of North American mammals and from their secluded 

 habits are seldom seen. They have, however, considerable 

 economic importance, as their insidious and undisturbed 

 forays upon gardens and orchards render them more obnox- 

 ious than more open foes. From their habits unlikely to spread 

 rapidly, they multiply in favorable localities to an incredible 

 extent and miles of meadow land are honeycombed by their 

 burrows. For the same reason they are somewhat arbitrarily 

 distributed. 



From the fact that the few species are so similar, and closely 

 allied geographical races so numerous, it might be inferred 

 that the group, as at present found, is of a comparatively 

 recent origin and that its different members are diverging from 

 a common centre west of the Mississippi. To this it might be 

 replied that subterranean, like subaqueous, species are subject 

 to slower changes than those more directly influenced by cli- 

 mate, etc. However this may be, the family is distributed over 

 the western part of the United States and ranges southward 

 into Mexico. The eastward range is little beyond the states 



*Merriam's Mammals of the Adirondacks, p. 292. 



