690 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 25 



among farmers subject to their inroads that 

 they cannot be caught in traps. Mr. Bailey 

 especially commends the use of bisulphide 

 of carbon for their destruction, which is 

 readily accomplished by placing an ounce 

 or two of this volatile fluid on cotton or 

 rags in their burrows. Instructions are 

 also given for the use of poison and traps. In 

 consequence of the harm done bj' Gophers, 

 bounties have been oifered in many parts of 

 the "West, but the system is condemned as 

 a means of depleting the county treasuries 

 without effecting the extirpation of the 

 Gophers. Thus it is stated that Benton 

 county, Iowa, paid out $18,000 in three 

 years in Goj^her bounties, " but the Gophers, 

 though greatly reduced in numbers, were not 

 exterminated." 



Gophers of one species or another occupy 

 practically the whole of the United States 

 west of the Mississippi Eiver, and also the 

 greater parts of the States of Illinois, Geor- 

 gia, Alabama and Florida. Detailed ac- 

 counts are given of the habits of the various 

 species found east of the Kocky Mountains. 

 Aside from its important economic bearings, 

 the Gopher Bulletin is a most interesting 

 contribution to the life history of a group 

 of animals hitherto little known. Four of 

 the six illustrations in the text are from Dr. 

 Merriam's monograph, as are the frontis- 

 piece (Georgia Goj^her), and the colored 

 map of the distribution of the species of the 

 genera Geoinys and Craterogeomys. The two 

 colored plates (of the Prairie Gopher and 

 Gray Gopher), called for in the list of illus- 

 trations, and prepared especially for this 

 Bulletin, are lacking, in consequence, as we 

 are privately informed, of their having been 

 ' mislaid ' at the Government Printing Office 

 after their production and delivery by the 

 Department of Agriculture. 



J. A. Allen. 



\_The Norway Lemming] My odes lemmus, its 

 Habits and Migrations in Norway, by E. 

 CoUett. Christiania. 1895. 8°. pp. 62. 



The distinguished naturalist of Christi- 

 ania, Dr. E. CoUett, has just published a 

 treatise on the Norwegian Lemming that at 

 once becomes a classic on the subject. He 

 tells us that, in a manuscript believed to 

 have been written in the latter half of the 

 loth century, the Lemmings are supposed 

 to have been the same as the ' locusts ' men- 

 tioned .in the Bible in connection with the 

 plagues in Egypt. In a book published by } 

 Jacob Ziegler in 1532 the theory of their \ 

 descent from the clouds is proposed, based 

 on statements of two bishops from Trond- 

 hjem. In 1555 Olaus Magnus, Archbishop 

 of Upsala, published a figure showing the 

 Lemmings (with tails like house mice) fall- 

 ing from the clouds and being preyed upon 

 by El-mines. 



Dr. Collet states that normally the Lem- 

 ming inhabits all of the mountain plateaus 

 of Norway above the zone of coniferous 

 trees, descending in Finmark to sea level, 

 thus occupying about one-third of the total 

 land area. Besides the mainland thej'^ in- 

 habit the large rocky islands off the coast, 

 especially to the northward. 



In normal years they are rarely seen, 

 even bj' explorers. In prolific years they 

 suddenlj' increase and overfiow vast areas. 

 In such years according to Dr. Collet, " The 

 litters produced during the course of the 

 summer follow so closely one upon the other 

 that the one set is barely allowed time to 

 leave the nest ere the next lot arrives. 

 Futhermore, the litters are unusuallj'' large, 

 as they constantly contain uj) to 10 young- 

 lings in each set (although possibly 6 or 7 

 on the whole is the rule); and all these 

 young ones appear to be possessed of greater 

 powers of attaining maturity than those 

 produced during a normal year." 



This excessive reproduction results in 

 overcrowding the breeding grounds, from 

 which vast numbers move away in different 

 directions. Descending the mountains and 

 following the vallej^s thej' continue blindlj'- 



