A DESTRUCTIVE ANIMAL 



247 



Our type species, the Red Pocket Gopher, says Mr. Ver- 

 non Bailey, "is of much greater economic importance than 

 all the other species combined, for the reason that its home 

 is in the fertile prairie region of the Mississippi Valley," em- 



RED POCKET GOPHER. 



bracing Iowa, — which is its centre of distribution,— Illinois, 

 Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the eastern parts of 

 the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas. Its length is about 

 7 l A + 3 inches. The young are either two or three in num- 

 ber, and there is only one litter each year. 



The enemies of the Gopher are the weasel and the gopher 

 snake. 1 Because of the damage done by Gophers, farmers 

 generally wage war upon them witli traps, strychnine, and 



1 Pituopkis. 



