330 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
Principal records. De Kay: “This curious little animal although 
rarely seen, is not uncommon in every part of the state” (’42, p. 71). 
Merriam: ‘The jumping-mouse is common in many parts of the Adiron- 
dacks as well as in the surrounding country” (’84d, p. 192). Fisher: 
“Tolerably common. Usually found in the tall grass of wet meadows 
near streams, but occasionally observed in dry pastures” (’96, p. 198). 
Mearns: “Abundant along Schoharie creek, but not found elsewhere in 
the [Catskill] region” (’98, Pp. 347). 
I have found the meadow jumping-mouse abundant at Peterboro, 
Madison co. where it never penetrates the dense woods inhabited by 
Napaeozapus insignis. ‘The two species frequently occur together how- 
ever in thinly wooded places. About this animal in Erie co. Mr Savage 
writes as follows: “ With all my rambling about I never met with Zapus, 
but have heard of it from persons qualified to distinguish it from the 
white-footed mouse.” Mr E, M. Chamot in a letter from Ithaca March 
15, 1896 writes me that he once took a specimen of Zapus in deep woods 
at Angola, Erie co. May it not have been Z. zmsignis? Mr Helme 
reports the meadow jumping-mouse fairly common on Long Island. 
Remarks. De Kay figures this species (’42, pl. 24) and his account 
evidently refers wholly to it. Merriam on the other hand includes both 
meadow and woodland animals under the name Ausdonius. 
I once saw a remarkable demonstration, though a negative one, of the 
function of the exceedingly long tailof this animal. A young individual 
had lost its tail by the knife of a mowing machine in a damp meadow 
and was rendered thereby helpless. Not that its jumping power was in 
any way impaired, on the contrary I have seldom seen a mouse of the 
size leap more energetically or to greater distances. But the animal had 
lost all control over its movements. When I approached, it made violent 
efforts to escape, but the moment it was launched in air, its body, 
deprived of its balancing power, turned end over end so that it was as 
likely as not to strike the ground facing the direction from which it had 
come. The next frantic leap would then carry it back to the starting 
point. An animal thus deprived of its tail would be an interesting 
subject for observation. I am inclined to believe that the lost coordina- 
tion of movements would eventually be restored. 
Napaeozapus” insignis Miller Woodland jumping-mouse 
1884 Zapus hudsonius Merriam, Linn. soc. New York. Trans. 2: 192(part) 
1891 Zapus insignis Miller, American naturalist. Aug. 1891. 25: 743. 
a Characterized (as a subgenus) by Preble, North American fauna No. 15, p. 33. August 8, 1899. 
