15 



county informed ine that when he settled there* eighteen years be- 

 fore, he being one of the first settlers of the county, the beaver was 

 then common there. He said it was now quite exterminated in that 

 vicinity, none having been seen for a considerable period. From the 

 frequent occurrence of creeks in Iowa called by the name of this 

 animal, it seems probable that it was once numerous here. 



39. Geomys bursarius Richardson. (Pouched or Pocket Go- 

 pher.) 



Exceedingly numerous everywhere, and a great pest. The farm- 

 ers regard it as agriculturally the " gfeat curse of the country." In 

 some localities it destroys the fruit trees, the groves planted for shade 

 and the osage-orange hedges, by feeding upon their roots in winter. 

 It seems to be nowhere on the decrease, as from its peculiar habits it 

 is difficult to destroy. As the animal seldom appears above the sur- 

 face of the ground, and only at nightj one may reside for years where 

 they are numerous without seeing one. The moist and the dry por- 

 tions of the prairie are alike haunted by them; and the farmer too 

 often sees their unwelcome hillocks thrown up night after night in his 

 garden, or within a few feet of his door. As their burrows are always 

 closed, few persons know how to trap them. A few farmers have been 

 successful in poisoning them with strychnine, and now and then one is 

 shot. To shoot them it is necessary to open their burrows and 

 watch with a gun kept in readiness to fire the instant they appear 

 at the opening to close it, as they show their head only, and for 

 merely an instant. The gopher will allow no light to enter its bur- 

 row, and when it is broken into it hastens to repair the breach. In 

 trapping them an opening is made into their galleries, through which 

 a small steel trap is inserted as far as it conveniently can be with the 

 hand, and the opening then partially closed. The animal hastening 

 to close the opening must generally pass over the trap. Occasionally, 

 however, the trap is found pushed up into the opening and firmly 

 wedged there with the impacted earth, in which case it is usually un- 

 sprung. The gopher is hence often credited with a degree of cun- 

 ning far beyond what it possesses, the safe removal of the trap being 

 purely accidental on the part of the animal. As the burrows are 

 extensive, with many branches, it is impossible to tell on which side 

 of the opening the occupant may be, and hence coming from the side 

 opposite to that where the trap is placed, it often succeeds in closing 

 the hole without being captured. 1 



1 For a detailed account of the habits of this interesting species, see Kennicott's 

 papers on the Mammals of Illinois, in the Patent Office Report on Agriculture for 

 1857, p. 72. 



