MAMMALS. 



593 



of the Mississippi, and some of the species show a distinct tendency to take 

 the place of our common rats and mice about the barns and storehouses. 



In the pouched gophers the cheek-pouches acquire their maximum devel- 

 opment. They are there, comparatively speaking, huge sacks, extending 

 back from the sides of the mouth to the shoulders ; but what use they are 

 to the animal is as yet not thoroughly settled. By some they are regarded 

 as sacks to contain a temporary supply of food, while others think them of 

 use in carrying away the dirt which is excavated in making the burrows. 



Fig. 483. — Pouched gopher (Geomys bursarius). 



This burrowing habit makes the gophers an intolerable pest in the west ; for 

 they choose the richest soil for their habitations, and completely honey- 

 comb it with their winding ways. Everywhere their holes may be seen, 

 and scattered here and there are the little heaps of earth brought up from 

 below. The soil is frequently so thoroughly undermined that it slumps 

 through in walking upon it. Besides this burrowing, which renders them 

 a nuisance, they are fond of vegetable matter of all sorts, and especially of 

 bulbous roots, of which they gather large quantities and store them away 

 underground. Every conceivable method is taken to check them, — 

 poison, traps, drowning-out, and the like, are all employed, — but without 



