549 
This would seem to indicate that there are three broods a year 
at about equal intervals of four months; viz.,in the latter part of 
February, in June, and in October. 
The number in a litter varies from four to nine. This agrees in 
general with such records as have been made by other observers. 
The young adhere to the teats with considerable tenacity, and 
have often been seen clinging to the dam when the nests were dis- 
turbed. The smallest specimen found pregnant was 129 mm. in 
total length. The average length of all my specimens being 134 
mm., I am inclined to believe that they breed first when about one 
year old. 
The enemies of this species, as of the white-footed wood-mouse, 
must be the nocturnal Carnivora found in the open fields, viz., 
skunks, weasels, and owls. Very few have been found in the 
stomachs of hawks. 
Economically their importance seems to be small, for good or 
ill. I have no record of their injuring growing crops in this locality, 
and the grain taken, while perhaps considerable in total amount, is 
chiefly waste. The species does not habitually feed on grain in 
shocks, and so far as any available record goes it never enters barns 
or granaries. 
Owing to the clearing of woodland and the drainage of waste 
tracts, the area of its habitat within the county has undoubtedly 
greatly increased since the settlement of the country, and, consider- 
ing its advantageous adaptation to the present state of cultivation, 
it seems quite certain that there are more individuals within our 
limits now than when the country was unsettled, and that its num- 
bers are not diminishing at present. 
SOUTHERN GOLDEN MOUSE. 
Peromyscus nuttalli aureolus (Audubon and Bachman). 
Mus (Calomys) aureolus Aud. and Bachm., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., I., 1841, 
pp. 98-99, 
A few specimens of a golden mouse identified by Osgood as 
probably of this form, were taken near Olive Branch, Alexander 
county, in the extreme southern part of the state. They were 
quite abundant in the low woods of oak bordering the cypress 
swamps. Kennicott reported it from Murphysboro, in Jackson 
