266 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



num for five years in Porter County, Indiana. 51 Burnett says they 

 are very fond of rhubarb leaves and dandelions, and the only rodent 

 known to him that will eat onions. 52 During a large visitation of June 

 beetles at Poland, New York, many of them were eaten by wood- 

 chucks. 53 The flesh of the woodchuck "is considered a great delicacy 

 among the mountain people of Kentucky." 5 



"Grasses, composite flowers (Arnica and Agaseris), green leaves 

 and blue lupines have been found in stomachs examined. . . . The flesh 

 of the marmot, when taken young and properly prepared, is very edible ; 

 but old individuals are tough, and the meat possesses a gamy taste 

 which some dislike." 56 Marmot skins are used in the fur trade and 

 are sometimes dyed and sold as mink or sable. The reported sales for 

 1919-1921 totalled 3,107,759 skins. 56 



Because of their great numbers, prairie-dogs (Cynomys ludovi- 

 cianus) were, before extensive poisoning and fumigating campaigns 

 had reduced them somewhat, one of the most serious pests of the west- 

 ern plains and still are a menace wherever they occur. Their colonies 

 vary from a few acres to many square miles in extent. According to 

 Merriam, one Texas colony of 25,000 square miles contained 

 400,000,000 prairie-dogs, and the food consumed by them would be 

 sufficient to support 1,562,500 head of cattle, the depredations of these 

 rodents reducing by from 50 per cent to 75 per cent the producing 

 capacity of the land occupied. 57 Commenting upon this estimate, Bailey 

 says that "if the remaining 65,000 square miles of their scattered 

 range in the state contains, as seems probable, an equal number, the 

 state of Texas supports 800,000,000 prairie-dogs," which "would 

 require as much grass as 3,125,000 cattle," and "as a Texas cattle 

 ranch usually covers from 10,000 to 100,000 acres, the expense of 

 destroying the prairie-dogs in the most economical manner often means 

 an outlay of several thousand dollars to begin with and a considerable 



51 Hahn, $$rd Ann. Kept. Indiana Dept. Geol. and Nat. Res., 1908, pp. 483-484, 

 1909. 



52 Burnett, Office Colorado State Entom. Circular No. 25, p. 21, 1918. 



53 Gianini, Tree-climbing and insect-eating woodchucks, Journ. Mammalogy, vi, 

 281-282, 1925. 



"Hamilton, Journ. Mammalogy, xi, 310, 1930. 



65 Taylor and Shaw, Mammals and birds of Mount Ranier National Park, pp. 

 89-91, 1927. But see Hahn, 33rd Ann. Kept. Indiana Dept. Geol. and Nat. Res., 1908, 

 pp. 483-484, who says it is tender and well-flavored. 



66 Osborn and Anthony, Natural History, xxn, 393, 1922. See Innis, The fur trade 

 of Canada, table opp. p. 76, 1927. 



57 Merriam, The prairie-dog of the Great Plains, Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. for 

 1901, pp. 257-270. 



